REESE  LIBRARY 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

.  iSovn 


OF  THE 

[UNIVERSITY, 


A    HISTORY 
OF    AMHERST    COLLEGE 


DURING   THE   ADMINISTRATIONS   OF   ITS 
FIRST   FIVE   PRESIDENTS 

FROM     l82I     TO     1891 


BY 
WILLIAM   S.  TYLER,   D.  D.,   LL.  D. 

WITH  AN  INTRODUCTORY  NOTE  BY 

RICHARD  SALTER  STORRS,  D.D.,  LL.  D. 


UNIVERSITY 


NEW    YORK 

FREDERICK    H.    HITCHCOCK 
1895 


COPYRIGHT,  1894, 
BY  FREDERICK  H.   HITCHCOCK. 


PREFACE. 


THE  first  edition  of  this  history  appeared  shortly 
after  the  celebration  of  the  Fiftieth  Anniversary  of 
the  college,  and  was  entitled  "  History  of  Amherst 
College  during  its  First  Half  Century,  1821-1871." 
The  present  new  edition  has  been  written  and  revised 
with  particular  reference  to  two  objects,  viz:  first, 
the  continuation  of  the  history  so  as  to  include  the 
close  of  Dr.  Stearns'  presidency  and  the  entire  ad- 
ministration of  President  Seelye,  thus  making  it  a 
history  of  Amherst  under  its  first  five  presidents ;  and 
second,  at  the  same  time  to  abridge  the  work  and  make 
it  a  smaller  and  less  costly  volume,  which  should  be 
within  the  means  of  every  graduate.  In  thus  abridg- 
ing it,  I  have  been  under  the  necessity  of  omitting 
the  biographical  sketches  of  the  founders  and  bene- 
factors, the  trustees  and  faculty,  and  the  personal 
contributions  of  alumni  of  the  college,  which  were  a 
characteristic  feature  of  the  first  edition  and  gave  it 
variety,  lifelike  reality,  and  dramatic  interest.  But 
whatever  it  may  have  thus  lost  in  variety  and  in- 
dividuality, we  trust  it  has  gained  in  fulness  and 
completeness  as  a  history  of  the  college. 

My  first  thought  was  to  write  a  separate  book  on 
the  religious  history  of  the  college.  I  might  thus 


IV  PREFACE. 

have  made  both  the  literary  and  the  religious  history, 
especially  the  latter,  somewhat  fuller  and  more  satis- 
factory in  some  particulars.  But  this  separation 
would  have  put  asunder  what  God  joined  together. 
A  history  of  Amherst  College  without  its  religious 
history  would  hardly  have  deserved  the  name.  More- 
over, at  the  age  of  fourscore  years  and  four  it  were 
unsafe  to  presume  so  much  on  the  future.  So  I  have 
devoted  my  last  two  chapters  to  the  religious  history 
of  the  college,  and  especially  to  that  characteristic 
feature,  its  revivals,  leaving  unsaid,  for  brevity's 
sake,  not  a  few  things  which  I  would  gladly  have 
written  of  the  measures,  methods,  and  every-day  re- 
ligious life  of  the  college. 

Our  readers  will  be  pleased  to  find  several  pages  of 
the  book  occupied  by  a  contribution  from  a  favorite 
alumnus  and  almost  lifelong  trustee  of  the  college, 
who  knows  its  history  and  men  and  measures,  and 
who,  as  the  golden-mouthed  orator  of  the  Brooklyn 
pulpit,  has  such  a  marvellous  and  magic  power  of  tell- 
ing his  story.  If  any  of  them  question  the  taste  of 
the  author  in  permitting  a  complimentary  biographi- 
cal sketch  of  himself  to  be  prefixed  to  his  own  book, 
there  are  two  things  to  be  said  about  it.  In  the  first 
place,  "laudari  a  viro  laudato"  is  an  honor  which 
any  man  may  justly  prize.  And  in  the  second  place, 
the  responsibility  rests,  not  on  the  author,  but  on  the 
publisher,  who  insisted  on  the  insertion  of  such  a 
sketch,  partly,  I  flatter  myself,  out  of  sincere  friend- 
ship and  affection  for  his  old  teacher,  and  partly,  I 
ween,  in  order  to  give  wings  to  the  publication, 
wherein  I  admire  his  wisdom  and  wish  him  all  the 
success  which  he  has  so  well  earned  by  his  unwearied 


PREFACE.  V 

efforts  to  bring  out  the  book  in  a  form  and  style 
worthy  of  the  college  of  which  he  is  an  enterprising, 
loyal  alumnus. 

It  has  been  my  singularly  happy  lot  to  be  person- 
ally acquainted  with  all  of  the  five  presidents,  except 
the  first,  the  history  of  whose  administrations  I  have 
here  written,  to  be  associated  with  them  in  the 
faculty,  and  to  be  honored  with  their  confidence  and 
personal  friendship.  And  I  beg  leave  to  present 
them  to  my  readers  in  this  preface,  as  the  Grecian 
Helen  introduced  the  heroes  of  Greece  and  the  con- 
querors of  Troy  in  that  inimitable  preface,  the  Third 
Book  of  the  Iliad : 

President  Moore,  portly  and  courtly,  winning  and 
wise,  laying  wisely  and  well  the  corner-stone  of  the 
great  edifice  that  was  to  be  reared,  but  nothing  more, 
contending  manfully  and  heroically  against  the  com- 
bined forces  of  local  prejudice,  rival  institutions,  and 
sectarian  zeal,  but  falling  in  the  struggle  before  his 
beloved  college  had  even  been  recognized  as  a  college 
by  a  charter  from  the  legislature,  dying  like  Moses 
on  Pisgah,  in  sight  only  of  the  promised  land. 

President  Humphrey,  stalwart,  strenuous,  and 
strong,  the  honored  and  beloved  pastor,  the  revival 
preacher,  the  champion  of  temperance  and  home  and 
foreign  missions,  the  very  impersonation  of  common 
sense,  practical  wisdom,  and  Christian  principle; 
laying  broad  and  deep  the  foundations,  giving  the 
college  its  distinctive  and  paramount  religious  char- 
acter, rejoicing  in  a  growth  and  prosperity  so  rapid 
that  it  seemed  miraculous,  second  only  to  Yale  in 
the  number  of  its  students,  but  overtaken  almost  as 
suddenly  by  a  reaction  that  was  as  inevitable  as  it 


VI  PREFACE. 

was  disastrous,  and  in  his  retirement  evincing  a 
magnanimity  more  grand  than  any  success. 

President  Hitchcock,  the  man  of  genius  and  im- 
agination, the  Christian  scientist  who  saw  "the  cross 
in  nature  and  nature  in  the  cross,"  the  great  com- 
moner, whose  face  was  as  familiar  to  all  the  farmers 
of  Massachusetts  as  his  horse,  his  geological  wagon, 
and  his  chest  of  tools,  who  imparted  to  the  college 
his  own  scientific  spirit  and  reputation;  who  enlisted 
Woods,  Lawrence,  and  Williston  in  its  behalf,  paid 
off  its  debts  and  gave  it  its  first  scientific  buildings 
and  its  first  permanent  endowments,  and,  when  he 
had  thus  put  the  enemy  to  rout  and  secured  the  vic- 
tory, fell  back  into  the  ranks  and  served  as  a  com- 
mon soldier  to  the  end  of  his  life. 

President  Stearns,  the  Christian  gentleman,  of 
general  culture,  refined  tastes,  polished  manners,  and 
perfect  balance  in  all  his  powers  and  faculties,  a 
graduate  of  the  ancient  and  venerable  university  of 
Cambridge,  for  many  years  pastor  of  a  church  in  the 
near  vicinity  of  Boston,  and  bringing  with  him  a 
happy  union  of  the  principles  of  his  Puritan  ancestry 
with  the  dignified  and  courteous  manners  of  those 
cities,  capturing  by  his  patience  and  tact  Dr.  Walker, 
Samuel  A.  Hitchcock,  and  David  Sears,  and  intro- 
ducing the  era  of  new  buildings  and  large  endow- 
ments, while  at  the  same  time  he  put  a  finishing  and 
polishing  touch  upon  everything,  and  left,  as  his 
motto  for  the  college,  "the  highest  attainments  in 
every  branch  of  literature,  science,  and  art,  and  all 
for  Christ;"  and  President  Seelye,  the  Christian 
philosopher,  statesman,  and  educator,  himself  the 
largest  pattern  of  a  man,  physical,  intellectual,  moral. 


PREFACE.  Vll 

and  religious,  and  by  precept  and  example,  in  the 
classroom  and  the  pulpit,  by  personal  influence  and 
public  administration,  impressing  that  pattern  upon 
his  students,  teaching  them  as  his  greatest  and  best 
lesson  perhaps  the  art  of  governing,  controlling,  and 
educating  themselves,  and  every  one  making  the 
most  of  the  best  there  is  in  him  for  the  highest  and 
noblest  ends. 

Such  is  the  royal  line  of  succession,  such  the  more 
than  princely  inheritance,  into  which  our  sixth  pres- 
ident, Dr.  Gates,  has  recently  entered.  We  welcome 
him  to  great  expectations,  great  opportunities,  great 
advantages,  and  still  greater  labors  and  responsibili- 
ties. Our  hope,  our  expectation,  our  prayer  is  that, 
conserving  all  that  is  good  in  the  past  and  appropri- 
ating all  that  is  best  in  the  present  and  future,  Am- 
herst,  under  his  wise  administration  and  with  the 
blessing  of  Heaven,  may  rise  to  an  unexampled  height 
of  prosperity  and  glory.  And  when  the  time  shall 
come  for  his  administration  to  pass  into  history,  may 
he  and  his  colleagues  find  a  worthier,  wiser,  better 
historian  to  record  the  facts  and  perpetuate  the  mem- 
ory of  the  actors. 


(UNIVERSITY) 


INTRODUCTORY   NOTE. 


INSTANCES  can  never  cease  to  be  remarkable,  if  only 
for  their  rareness,  in  which  a  distinguished  teacher, 
having  been  associated  with  one  institution  of  learn- 
ing for  sixty  years,  is  permitted  at  the  end  of  that 
prolonged  service  to  write  the  history  of  the  institu- 
tion, with  the  assured  accuracy  of  an  eye-witness,  yet 
also  with  the  easy  force  and  vivacity  of  one  still  in 
his  youth.  This  has  been,  however,  the  unusual 
privilege  of  the  honored  scholar  and  the  eminent 
teacher  by  whom  this  admirable  history  of  Amherst 
college  has  been  prepared. 

Having  been  graduated  with  honor  at  the  college 
in  1830,  and  having  served  in  it  as  tutor  for  the  two 
years  from  1832  to  1834,  he  was  appointed  its  Pro- 
fessor of  Greek  and  Latin  in  1836 — the  professorship 
being  changed  eleven  years  after  into  that  of  the 
Greek  language  and  literature.  This  professorship 
he  held  continuously  until  two  years  since,  when  he 
resigned  it  to  get  larger  leisure  for  general  studies 
and  literary  labors ;  and  one  fruit  of  this  recent  in- 
terval of  comparative  leisure  appears  in  the  comple- 
tion of  this  detailed  and  comprehensive  narrative 
of  the  inception  of  the  college  and  of  its  subsequent 
development. 


X  INTRODUCTORY    NOTE. 

The  exceptional  qualifications  of  Professor  Tyler 
for  this  particular  work  will  be  instantly  recognized 
by  those  who  know  him,  and  who  are  themselves  in 
any  measure  acquainted  with  that  progress  of  the 
college  which  he  so  affectionately  traces.  Himself 
educated  in  it,  and  the  second  of  its  graduates  to  be 
appointed  to  the  chair  of  a  professor,  he  has  been 
personally  familiar  with  each  stage  in  its  advance, 
while  he  has  always  represented,  at  least  as  fully  as 
have  any  of  the  men  from  time  to  time  associated 
with  him,  its  special  moral,  literary,  and  educational 
tone.  He  has  borne  his  large  share  of  the  burdens 
which  came  with  its  former  years  of  poverty  and 
weakness.  He  has  rejoiced  in  the  succeeding  pros- 
perities, to  which  he  had  himself  effectively  contrib- 
uted. He  has  lived  to  see  it  firmly  established 
among  those  notable  institutions  for  the  higher  edu- 
cation which  the  country  cherishes  with  gladness 
and  honor;  and  it  is  fitting  that  he  should  now  bring 
to  completeness  his  long,  zealous,  successful  work  on 
its  behalf  by  making  this  enduring  record  of  what 
he  has  seen  of  it,  and  of  what  it  has  become.  The 
only  special  limitation  to  be  feared  in  his  survey  is 
that  to  which  his  modesty  may  constrain  him,  in  pre- 
venting him  from  giving  a  sufficient  account  of  what 
he  himself  has  been  in  the  college,  and  of  what  it 
owes  to  his  spirit  and  his  labor.  But  many  will  be 
able  from  personal  recollections  to  supply  such  de- 
fects ,  and  they  will  not  honor  him  the  less  for  any 
omissions  in  this  direction  which  they  may  find. 

It  was  the  happy  fortune  of  the  writer  of  this  Note 
to  be  a  member  of  the  sophomore  class  at  Amherst 
in  1836,  when  Professor  Tyler  first  came  to  his  chair; 


INTRODUCTORY    NOTE.  xi 

and,  in  common  with  those  who  had  leadership  in 
the  class,  he  was  thenceforth  personally  conversant 
with  the  work  of  the  new  teacher  until  the  "  Com- 
mencement" of  1839.  He  felt,  as  did  the  others,  the 
strong  impulse  which  was  brought  by  the  then  young 
professor  not  only  into  the  department  of  classical 
studies,  but  into  the  entire  life  of  the  College.  It 
was  an  impulse  to  faithful  work,  to  vigorous  think- 
ing, to  investigation  of  subjects  quite  outside  of  cus- 
tomary text-books,  to  direct  and  energetic  forms  of 
expression.  It  was  an  impulse,  especially,  toward  a 
deepened  and  an  invigorated  moral  and  religious  tone, 
in  the  classes  which  successively  felt  its  force.  Some 
of  the  sermons  then  preached  by  the  Professor  are 
still  remembered,  in  outline  at  least,  by  those  who 
heard  them ;  and  the  vital  impressions  left  by  them 
have  never  faded.  Above  all,  his  keen  personal  in- 
terest in  his  pupils,  his  watchfulness  over  them,  the 
excellent  sense  and  practical  wisdom  which  marked 
his  terse  and  witty  counsels,  the  manly  and  com- 
manding frankness  with  which  he  exhorted,  encour- 
aged, or  rebuked,  as  either  was  needed,  left  remem- 
brances not  to  be  effaced  or  forgotten. 

The  relation  of  the  faculty  to  the  students  in 
American  colleges  was  at  that  time  more  nearly  a 
paternal  relation  than  it  has  been  in  late  years,  or 
is  likely  ever  again  to  become.  Possibly  this  was 
still  more  marked  at  Amherst  than  commonly  else- 
where. The  college  community  there  was  never  a 
large  one,  embracing  at  most  not  more  than  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  students  and  teachers.  The  average 
age  of  those  entering  college  was  undoubtedly  less 
than  at  present.  The  modern  scheme  of  elective 


Xll  INTRODUCTORY    NOTE. 

studies  was  wholly  unknown;  and  the  emulation  in 
athletic  exercise  between  classes  and  colleges,  which 
now  fastens  such  eager  attention,  was  then  as  much  a 
thing  of  the  future  as  were  telephones  or  typewriters. 
The  governing  aspiration  of  leading  minds  in  the  col- 
lege was  for  success  in  studies,  for  enlarged  thought- 
power,  for  a  more  facile  and  vigorous  literary  skill, 
and  for  ease  and  energy  in  debate. 

The  aim  of  those  to  whom  were  committed  the 
various  offices  of  instruction  and  discipline  was  there- 
fore largely  a  moral  aim — not  solely,  or  chiefly,  to  give 
particulars  of  knowledge  in  science,  philosophy,  or 
good  letters,  but  to  do  this  in  constant  subordination 
to  the  virile  training  of  mental  power,  with  the 
building  up  of  symmetrical  and  strong  character.  As 
President  Stearns  indicated,  I  think,  in  his  inaugural 
discourse  of  forty  years  since,  the  accepted  purpose 
of  the  college  was  to  produce  the  highest  manhood 
among  those  who  came  under  its  tuition ;  and  every 
teacher  was  expected,  and  was  inspired,  to  do  his 
best  work  for  those  set  under  him  through  personal 
contact — not  only  instructing  them  on  themes  and 
by  text-books,  but  imparting  from  himself  an  imme- 
diate intellectual  and  moral  vigor. 

It  is  of  course  not  possible  to  carry  on  this  plan  in 
the  larger  institutions,  where  the  students  are  now 
numbered  by  thousands,  each  one  being  relatively 
more  mature  than  before;  where  each  is  at  liberty, 
within  limitations,  to  select  his  own  lines  of  study, 
and  of  course  his  own  instructors ;  and  where  achieve- 
ments on  the  ball-ground  or  on  the  boat-course  are 
those  which  stir  surpassing  enthusiasms.  Perhaps 
the  earlier  scheme  was  too  narrow  in  comparison, 


INTRODUCTORY    NOTE.  Xlll 

and  failed  to  put  a  just  emphasis  on  important  mat- 
ters. But  it  had  its  own  merits,  and  is  still  affec- 
tionately remembered  by  those  who  recall  it,  even 
while  universities  are  becoming  encyclopedic  in 
character,  and  have  it  for  their  controlling  purpose 
to  give  information  on  all  sorts  of  subjects,  with  only 
slight  occasional  relations  between  the  teachers  and 
the  taught.  The  distinct  personal  and  moral  effects 
of  the  earlier  plan  were  certainly  in  some  respects 
more  significant  than  those  now  contemplated.  Class- 
fellowship  under  it  became  more  intimate  and  more 
animating  than  it  now  can  be.  There  was  a  common 
inspiriting  college-life,  which  affected  more  or  less 
each  one  brought  within  its  range ;  while  still  the  in- 
dividuality of  students  was  not  destroyed  or  limited — 
was  only,  in  fact,  cherished  and  re-enforced — by  this 
prevailing  but  unseen  force. 

It  used  to  be  thought,  in  some  quarters,  that  the 
only  or  the  chief  design  at  Amherst  was  to  train 
ministers  for  Congregational  churches;  yet  in  the 
particular  class  to  which  allusion  has  been  made  were 
those  who  after  graduation  became  Episcopal  clergy- 
men, one  of  whom  has  been  for  twenty-five  years  an 
honored  Bishop  in  that  communion.  Another  mem- 
ber of  it  became  a  very  distinguished  Roman  Catho- 
lic priest  and  professor  of  theology,  and  now  has  a 
place  of  honor  and  power  in  the  Catholic  University 
at  Washington.  The  two  sons  of  another,  himself 
becoming  a  merchant,  have  since  been  graduated  at 
Oxford  University,  and  are  both  at  this  time  mem- 
bers of  the  British  Parliament ;  while  others  of  the 
class  have  been  eminent  as  lawyers,  journalists, 
physicians,  medical  professors,  or  in  other  depart- 


XIV  INTRODUCTORY    NOTE. 

ments  of  civil  life  or  educational  work.  In  the  class 
which  was  in  the  senior  year  while  this  was  in  the 
freshman,  such  a  fitness  for  various  future  work  was 
still  more  strongly  marked.  It  was  small  in  number, 
only  thirty-eight  being  graduated  in  it:  yet  of  its 
members  two  became  eminent  as  judges  of  the  su- 
preme courts  in  Vermont  and  in  New  York;  two 
were  speakers  of  the  House  of  Representatives  in 
Massachusetts,  one  of  them  becoming  Governor  of 
the  State ;  others  were  medical  authors  and  professors 
of  high  repute,  and  two  were  as  brilliant  and  distin- 
guished professors  in  theological  seminaries,  at  the 
East  and  the  West,  as  the  half-century  has  known. 
There  was  certainly  no  rubbing  down  of  the  human 
material  in  their  time  in  college  to  a  particular  form 
or  color.  On  the  other  hand,  whatever  was  central 
and  characteristic  in  individual  tendency  and  power 
was  but  brought  out  more  fully  by  the  moulding  and 
impenetrating  influence  which  pervaded  the  institu- 
tion. 

Under  this  general  plan  of  education,  none  can  any- 
where have  wrought  more  patiently,  more  faithfully, 
or,  on  the  whole,  with  more  signal  success,  than  did 
Professor  Tyler  and  those  associated  with  him.  Of 
the  group  of  those  assembled  in  the  faculty  at  that 
earlier  time,  he  alone  remains  to  see  the  college  in 
its  present  conditions;  and  it  can  imply  no  invidious 
comparison  to  speak  of  his  work  as  representative  of 
that  which  was  truest  and  best  in  the  work  of  all. 
While  careful  and  critical  in  the  details  of  scholar- 
ship, and  by  no  means  unduly  tolerant  of  failure  in 
these,  especially  when  the  failure  had  resulted  from 
indolence  or  heedless  inattention,  his  principal  aim 


INTRODUCTORY    NOTE.  XV 

was,  as  was  that  of  his  associates,  to  make  capable, 
robust,  high-principled  men,  alive  to  truth,  responsive 
to  duty,  ready  for  good  work  of  whatever  sort,  able  to 
endure  hardness  as  he  was  himself,  with  a  certain 
strong  passion  for  usefulness  in  the  world,  and  not 
afraid  of  what  men  might  devise  while  they  were 
seeking  direction  from  on  high.  If  a  lad  of  fifteen 
or  sixteen  years,  finding  himself  suddenly  in  strange 
surroundings,  failed  to  discern  the  larger  opportu- 
nities thus  opened  before  him,  the  professor  was 
prompt  and  earnest  in  pointing  them  out  and  press- 
ing him  to  improve  them.  The  sluggish  were  stirred, 
while  those  of  keener  aspiration  were  encouraged  and 
rewarded.  If  any  one  brought  a  persistently  evil 
force  into  the  community,  remonstrance  and  persua- 
sion, when  found  ineffectual,  were  followed  by  speedy 
and  final  removal.  The  distinctly  incapable,  whom 
neither  incitement  could  urge,  nor  sarcasm  sting,  nor 
special  assistances  set  permanently  forward,  had  leave 
to  retire  to  other  pursuits ;  while  of  the  most  brilliant 
and  promising  men  punctuality,  obedience  and  dili- 
gence were  required,  as  surely  as  of  the  dull.  The 
supervision  was  quiet  and  not  obstrusive,  but  it  was 
constant,  personal,  efficient;  and  the  impulses  pro- 
ceeding from  it  were  inevitably  afterward  distributed 
afar — not  only  in  pulpits,  courts,  and  counting-rooms, 
or  in  chairs  of  instruction  in  the  older  States,  but 
along  the  frontiers,  and  on  remote  and  dangerous 
missionary  fields.  The  effects  of  such  watchful, 
kindly,  and  intelligent  discipline  have  been  really  a 
nobler  memorial  to  those  by  whom  it  then  was  ex- 
ercised than  would  have  been  any  surpassing  fineness 
of  scholarship  in  an  elect  few  whom  they  had  in- 


XVI  INTRODUCTORY    NOTE. 

stmcted,  or  any  rare  and  famous  achievement  in 
scientific  invention  or  research. 

Of  the  history  of  the  institution,  as  sketched  in 
this  volume  by  an  experienced  and  an  accurate  pen, 
it  is  of  course  no  part  of  the  office  of  this  Introduc- 
tion to  give  even  a  summary.  But  one  thing  must 
be  noted,  in  justice  alike  to  the  living  and  the  dead. 
Almost  every  American  college  has  had  its  special 
heroic  period,  when  means  were  scanty  while  aims 
were  high,  and  when  narrowness  of  resources  with 
meagerness  of  equipment  combined  to  lay  oppressive 
burdens  on  the  heart  and  hope  of  those  laboring  in 
it  to  accomplish  great  ends.  In  the  older  institu- 
tions, such  periods  came  in  what  is  now  their  distant 
past.  In  those  more  recent  they  have  come  in  the 
experience  of  men  still  living,  by  whom  the  stress  of 
them  is  still  vividly  remembered,  one  might  almost 
say  is  still  painfully  felt.  At  Amherst  the  time  of 
the  heaviest  burdens  was  no  doubt  in  the  two  decades 
between  1836  and  1856,  and  it  seemed  now  and  then 
as  if  the  college  itself  must  sink  under  the  strain. 
Humanly  speaking,  only  the  faith  and  the  steadfast 
fortitude  of  those  then  holding  office  in  it  sustained 
its  life,  and  enabled  it  to  come  up  from  the  bogs  and 
out  from  the  shadows  with  fresh  hope  and  a  renovated 
strength.  The  history  of  those  years  may  be  glanced 
at  in  this  volume ;  but  the  reserve  of  the  author  has 
no  doubt  imposed  restraint  on  his  pen,  and  the  full 
story  can  hardly  be  written  while  he  is  among  us. 

There  was  nothing  unnatural  in  the  crisis,  severe 
as  it  was.  The  college  had  been  founded  without 
wealthy  patrons,  by  many  people  of  moderate  means 
subscribing  small  sums,  in  the  midst  of  a  frugal  agri- 


INTRODUCTORY    NOTE.  xvii 

cultural  district,  when  its  remoteness  from  centers  of 
population  and  power  was  vastly  greater  than  it  since 
has  been.  It  had  been  founded  especially  to  furnish 
education  to  those  not  rich  in  this  world's  goods,  and 
founded  in  the  impulse  of  a  fervent  and  expectant 
evangelical  faith,  which  knew  little  of  what  was 
needed  for  the  complete  equipment  of  a  college,  but 
which  felt  itself  to  have  all  the  promises  on  its  side, 
and  which  took  small  account  of  the  difficulties  that 
must  come — difficulties  only  to  be  augmented  by  the 
increasing  repute  of  the  institution.  So  it  was  as 
certain  as  is  the  operation  of  any  natural  law  that 
times  of  sore  struggle  and  poverty  must  be  encoun- 
tered, before  it  could  attain  a  position  of  comparative 
security  and  ease.  It  has  not  yet  reached  that,  so  far 
as  to  be  beyond  the  need  of  the  constant  aid  of  its 
alumni,  its  friends,  and  of  all  who  honor  it  for  its 
work's  sake.  But  the  period  of  its  desperate  strait 
is  over.  Its  funds  and  its  equipment  are  not  now 
wholly  inadequate  to  its  work.  Its  buildings,  libra- 
ries, collections  of  art,  and  general  apparatus  are 
not  undeserving  of  respectful  regard  when  matched 
against  those  of  older  institutions.  It  has  a  distin- 
guished and  numerous  faculty,  and  the  prospect 
before  it  was  never  larger  or  brighter  than  at  present. 
The  lovely  natural  amphitheater  in  one  of  whose  foci 
it  fortunately  stands,  between  responsive  ranges 
of  sentinel  hills,  and  with  the  unsurpassed  western 
outlook  which  it  always  commands,  seems  to  offer 
the  parable  and  the  physical  prophecy  of  its  sure 
foundations,  and  of  the  still  expanding  influence  to 
go  forth  from  it  in  centuries  to  come.  As  Mr.  Web- 
ster is  reported  to  have  said  of  Dartmouth  College  at 


xvill  INTRODUCTORY    NOTE. 

the  close  of  his  great  argument  on  its  behalf  before 
the  Supreme  Court  in  Washington,  in  1818:  "  It  is  a 
small  college,  but,"  as  he  added,  "there  are  those 
who  love  it!"  May  their  number  always  increase, 
and  their  labor  in  its  service  be  crowned  with  ever 
richer  results ! 

However  long  the  college  may  continue,  however 
far  its  influence  may  reach,  and  howsoever  rich  it 
may  become,  in  accumulating  funds,  in  a  generously 
enlarged  physical  equipment,  in  the  men  who  as 
teachers  give  it  grace  and  renown,  in  the  fame 
which  shall  draw  to  it  students  from  afar,  it  may 
safely  be  predicted  that  none  will  ever  have  done 
more  to  determine  its  character,  to  invigorate  its  life, 
or  to  give  tone  to  its  widening  influence,  than  did 
those  who  were  early  associated  in  it  as  teachers  and 
guides;  and  it  may  with  equal  assurance  be  added 
that  of  all  those  thus  associated  none  will  be  remem- 
bered with  a  more  affectionate  honor  than  will  be 
given  to  him  who  came  to  the  college  in  his  young 
manhood,  who  faithfully  wrought  in  it  till  fulness  of 
years  gave  him  right  to  retire,  and  who  now  becomes, 
with  the  assent  of  all,  its  most  fitting  historian. 

He  has  nothing  either  tragical  or  splendid  to  re- 
late in  this  volume.  His  story  moves  along  common 
levels  of  life  and  experience,  appealing  to  the  mem- 
ory in  some,  but  not  at  all  to  the  general  imagination. 
The  story  is  set  forth  with  an  engaging  sincerity, 
to  which  any  impulse  of  literary  ambition  would  be 
utterly  foreign.  It  does  not  aspire  to  attract  multi- 
tudes of  readers,  or  to  take  a  place  among  brilliant 
and  famous  histories  of  the  time.  Yet  an  old-time 
pupil,  following  attentively  its  reflective  and  stimu- 


INTRODUCTORY    NOTE. 

lating  pages,  remembering  the  strong  personality 
behind  them,  and  indulging  a  reminiscent  mood, 
may  not  be  criticised  if  now  and  then  he  catches  in 
his  thought  a  self-repeating  echo  of  ancient  words, 
once  familiar,  describing  that  great  master  of  his- 
torians whom  the  author  of  the  narrative  before  us 
long  ago  studied  with  enthusiasm,  and  whom  he  has 
delighted  to  help  many  others  fairly  to  interpret: 

"  Qui  ita  creber  est  rerum  frequentia,  ut  verborum 
prope  numerum  sententiarum  numero  consequatur; 
ita  porro  verbis  aptus,  et  pressus,  ut  nescias,  utrum 
res  oratione,  an  verba  sententiis  illustrentur. " 

RICHARD  S.  STORRS. 

BROOKLYN,  N.  Y. ,  Nov.  27,  1894. 


€^.SH   LiUfl^l/jy^^ 
OF  THE  \ 

IVERSITY) 
OF  s 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER   I. 

PAGE 

The  Queen's  College  Project — First  Associated  Action  in 
Regard  to  Amherst  College — Amherst  Academy  the 
Mother  of  Amherst  College  — The  Charity  Fund- 
Question  of  the  Removal  of  Williams  College,  .  .  i 

CHAPTER   II. 

Erection  of  the  First  College  Edifice — Inauguration  of  the 
President  and  Professors  and  Opening  of  the  College,  .  16 

CHAPTER   III. 

The  First  Presidency — First  Catalogue  and  Course  of  Study 
— The  Literary  Societies — Early  Amherst — Death  of 
President  Moore, 27 

CHAPTER   IV. 

President  Humphrey's  Administration,  from  1823  to  1825 
— Struggle  for  the  Charter — Legislative  Investigation 
— Final  Success— Seal  of  the  College,  .  .  .41 

CHAPTER  V. 

A  Period  of  Rapid  Growth,  1825-36— First  Scientific  Course 
—The  Chapel  Building— Unsuccessful  Appeals  to  the 
Legislature  —  Hours  and  Fines  —  The  President's 
House,  ..........  62 


XX11  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER   VI. 

PAGE 

Period  of  Reaction  and  Decline — Resignation  of  President 

Humphrey 86 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Presidency  of  Dr.  Hitchcock — The  Faculty  Manage  the 
Finances — First  Foundations  for  Professorships — New 
Buildings  —  Restored  Prosperity — Dr.  Hitchcock's 
Character, 109 

CHAPTER     VIII. 

The  Presidency  of  Dr.  Stearns — Scholarships  and  Prizes — 
New  Buildings — The  College  Church — The  Beginning 
of  the  System  for  Physical  Education — The  Walker 
and  other  Professorships — Optional  Courses,  .  .139 

CHAPTER   IX. 

The  Civil  War— Record  of  Amherst 's  Heroes— The  Com- 
memorative Chime  of  Bells — The  Semi-Centennial 
Celebration, 181 

CHAPTER  X. 

Difficulties  in  Selecting  President  Stearns*  Successor — 
Professor  Seelye's  Election — Successful  Opening  of 
His  Administration — Additions  %to  the  Faculty — The 
Administration  of  President  Seelye — Inauguration  of 
theuAmherst  System" — Remarkable  Prosperity  of  the 
College, 198 

CHAPTER  XI. 

The  Burning  of  Walker  Hall— The  Buildings  Erected 
during  the  Administration — The  "Amherst  System" 
— Amherst  College  Reaches  its  Highest  Prosperity — 
Resignation  of  President  Seelye,  ....  225 


CONTENTS.  XX111 

CHAPTER  XII. 

PAGE 

Athletics — Gymnasium  Exercises  and  "the  Doctor" — In- 
tercollegiate Games — College  Societies — The  Greek- 
Letter  Fraternities,  .  .  .  '  .  .  .  .252 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

Religious  History  of  Amherst — Earlier  Colleges  and  Uni- 
versities, Founded  from  Religious  Motives — Decline 
of  Religious  Spirit — Colleges  for  Education  of  Minis- 
ters— Revivals  at  Amherst  from  1823  to  1853,  .  .  266 

CHAPTER   XIV. 

Religious  History  Continued — Seven  Revivals  in  the  First 
Twelve  Years  of  President  Stearns'  Administration — 
In  the  Remaining  Years  Two — In  President  Seelye's 
Two — Change  in  the  Form  and  Manner,  Not  in  the 
Spirit— Cause  of  the  Change— Remedy,  .  .  .280 

APPENDIX, ,  293 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Portrait  of  Dr.  W.  S.  Tyler,         ....    Frontispiece 

FACING  PAGE 

Amherst  Academy, 4 

First   Congregational    Meeting-house  and   Parsonage   in 

1788, 10 

Amherst  College  in  1821,     ....  .18 

Portrait  of  President  Moore,        .         .         .         .         .         .     27  - 

Amherst  College  in  1824, 34 

Portrait  of  President  Humphrey, 41 

The  Chapel  and  Dormitories,       .         .         .         .         .         .70 

The  President's  House, 83 

Portrait  of  President  Hitchcock, 109 

The  Barrett  Gymnasium,     .         .         .         .         .         .         .   117 

Woods  Cabinet  and  Observatory,         .....   117 

Portrait  of  President  Stearns, 139 

Appleton  Cabinet, 146 

Williston  Hall, 149 

The  College  Church .155 

College  Hall, 159 

The  Common,  Looking  toward  Amherst  College,       .         .   175 
Portrait  of  President  Seelye,        .         .         ...         .198 

The  Mather  Art  Collection, 220 

Walker  Hall, .         .225 

The  Henry  T.  Morgan  Library, 229 

The  Pratt  Gymnasium, 231 

The  Chemical  and  Physical  Laboratory  Building,      .         .   233 
Map  of  Amherst  College  Athletic  Grounds,         .         .         .  253 

The  Grand  Stand  on  Pratt  Field, 255 

View  from  the  College  Library, 275 

Map  of  Amherst  College  Grounds, 293 


A  HISTORY  OF  AMHERST  COLLEGE. 


CHAPTER    I. 

THE  QUEEN'S  COLLEGE  PROJECT — FIRST  ASSOCIATED 
ACTION  IN  REGARD  TO  AMHERST  COLLEGE AM- 
HERST ACADEMY  THE  MOTHER  OF  AMHERST  COL- 
LEGE  THE  CHARITY  FUND QUESTION  OF  THE 

REMOVAL    OF    WILLIAMS    COLLEGE. 

THE  want  of  a  college  in  the  valley  of  the  Connec- 
ticut was  felt  previous  to  the  Revolution.  Sixty 
years  before  the  establishment  of  the  Charity  Insti- 
tution at  Amherst,  and  thirty  years  before  the  incor- 
poration of  Williams  College,  measures  were  taken . 
for  founding  an  educational  institution  in  Hampshire 
County.  Some  of  the  inhabitants  of  that  county  pre- 
sented to  the  General  Court,  January  20,  1762,  a 
memorial  asking  for  a  charter  for  this  purpose,  and  a 
bill  was  brought  in,  which,  though  passed  to  be  en- 
grossed, was  finally  defeated. 

But  shortly  after,  Francis  Bernard,  by  virtue  of  his 
position  as  "  Governor  of  the  Province  of  Massachu- 
setts Bay,"  made  out  a  charter  incorporating  Israel 
Williams  and  eleven  others  "  a  body  politic  by  the 
name  of  the  President  and  Fellows  of  Queen's  Col- 
lege." This  charter  bears  the  date  of  February  26, 


2  A    HISTORY    OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

1762,  and  the  proposed  college  was  to  be  in  North- 
ampton, Hatfield,  or  Hadley. 

Nothing  further  ever  came  of  this  commendable 
act  of  Governor  Bernard.  Sympathy  for  Harvard 
College,  at  the  time  suffering  from  the  loss  by  fire  of 
its  library  and  philosophical  apparatus,  opposed  the 
establishment  of  another  like  institution  in  the  prov- 
ince, and  the  exciting  times  preceding  the  Revolu- 
tionary War  soon  absorbed  public  attention  to  the 
exclusion  of  other  more  peaceful. matters. 

It  was  not,  therefore,  until  a  number  of  years  later 
that  Williams  College  was  founded,  and  still  later 
that  we  find  on  record  the  first  associated  action 
looking  toward  the  establishment  of  a  college  at  Am- 
herst.  It  was  at  a  meeting  of  the  Franklin  County 
Association  of  Ministers,  held  in  Shelburne,  in  1815. 
This  was  six  years  before  the  college  came  into  ex- 
istence, and  one  year  after  the  opening  of  Amherst 
Academy,  out  of  which  the  college  grew.  The  as- 
sociation, on  mature  deliberation,  were  of  the  opin- 
ion that  knowledge  and  virtue  might  be  greatly  sub- 
served by  an  advanced  literary  institution  situated  in 
their  important  section  of  the  Commonwealth.  They 
were  unanimousl)7*  agreed  that,  all  things  considered, 
the  town  of  Amherst  appeared  to  them  the  most 
eligible  place  for  locating  it. 

This  decision  is  particularly  worthy  of  notice  be- 
cause it  was  reached  at  a  meeting  held,  not  in  Hamp- 
shire County  or  even  in  the  Connecticut  Valley,  but 
among  the  mountains  west  of  the  valley,  in  which  so 
many  great  and  good  men  have  had  their  origin.  In- 
deed many  of  the  members  of  the  association  rep- 
resented churches  which  were  very  friendly  to 


A   HISTORY    OF   AMHERST    COLLEGE.  3 

Williams  College,  and  one  of  the  most  prominent  par- 
ticipators in  the  discussion  in  favor  of  Amherst  was 
himself  a  trustee  of  Williams  College. 

Rev.  Theophilus  Packard,  who  was  the  prime 
mover  in  this  first  associated  action,  and  several 
others  of  the  earliest  and  most  efficient  friends  of 
Amherst  College,  were  residents  of  Franklin  County. 
Rev.  James  Taylor  of  Sunderland  became  a  member 
of  the  corporation  as  it  was  first  chosen  and  organ- 
ized, and  was  a  constant  attendant  of  all  its  meet- 
ings so  long  as  he  lived,  a  wise  counsellor  and  a  firm 
supporter  of  the  college  in  all  the  trials  of  the  first 
eleven  years  of  its  existence.  Col.  Rufus  Graves, 
its  indefatigable  agent,  and  Nathaniel  Smith,  its 
most  liberal  donor  in  those  early  days,  were  both 
members  of  Mr.  Taylor's  church,  born  in  Sun- 
derland and  residing  there  when  the  establishment  of 
such  an  institution  first  began  to  be  agitated.  Dea- 
con Elisha  Billings  of  Conway,  an  educated  man  of 
great  zeal,  wisdom  and  influence,  threw  himself  into 
the  enterprise,  and  contributed  largely  to  its  success, 
as  will  be  seen  very  clearly  a  little  later. 

Amherst  Academy  was  the  mother  of  Amherst 
College.  The  trustees  of  the  academy  became  also 
trustees  of  the  college,  and  the  records  of  the  acad- 
emy are  the  records  of  the  college  during  the 
first  four  years  of  its  existence.  The  founding  and 
erecting  of  Amherst  Academy  kept  pace  with  the 
origin  and  progress  of  the  last  war  with  Great  Britain. 
The  subscription  was  started  in  1812,  when  that  war 
was  declared;  the  academy  went  into  operation  in 
December,  1814,  the  same  year  and  the  same  month 
in  which  the  peace  was  signed ;  and  it  was  fully 


4  A   HISTORY    OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

dedicated  with  illuminations  and  public  rejoicings 
in  1815,  when  the  return  of  peace  was  known  and 
hailed  with  joy  in  this  country,  especially  in  New 
England.  The  charter  was  not  obtained,  however, 
till  1816,  having  been  delayed  by  opposition  in  Am- 
herst,  and  in  the  neighboring  towns,  of  the  -same 
kind  and  partly  from  the  very  same  sources  as  that 
which  the  college  encountered  in  later  years. 

It  opened  with  more  students  than  any  other  acad- 
emy in  Western  Massachusetts,  and  soon  attracted 
pupils  from  every  part  of  New  England.  It  had  at 
one  time  ninety  pupils  in  the  young  women's  depart- 
ment, and  quite  as  many,  usually  more,  in  the  young 
men's.  It  was  the  Williston  Seminary  and  the  Mount 
Holyoke  of  that  day  united.  Mary  Lyon,  the  founder 
of  Mount  Holyoke  Seminary,  was  a  member  of  Am- 
herst  Academy  in  1821.  There  were  usually  from 
seventy-five  to  one  hundred  students  in  the  classical 
department,  and  in  the  first  year  of  Simeon  Colton's 
administration,  the  writer,  who  was  his  assistant, 
well  remembers  that  we  sent  about  thirty  to  college, 
the  larger  part  of  whom  entered  at  Amherst.  Prior 
to  the  existence  of  Williston  Seminary,  and  during 
the  depression  of  Phillips  Academy  at  Andover,  in 
the  declining  years  of  Principal  Adams,  if  not  still 
earlier,  Amherst  Academy,  without  dispute,  held  the 
first  position  among  the  academies  of  Massachusetts. 

But  the  subsequent  prosperity  of  Phillips  Academy, 
the  establishment  of  Williston  Seminary,  and  the  rise 
of  normal  schools  and  high  schools  in  all  the  large 
towns,  gradually  drew  off  their  students  and  thus  their 
support  from  Amherst  and  other  comparatively  un- 
endowed academies,  till  one  after  another  of  them 


AMhERST   ACADEMY. 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  5 

became  extinct.  Amherst  Academy  did  a  great  and 
good  work  in  and  of  itself,  for  which  many  who  were 
educated  there  and  not  a  few  who  were  spiritually 
"  born"  there,  will  bless  God  forever.  But  the  best 
work  which  it  did,  and  which,  it  is  believed,  will  per- 
petuate its  memory  and  its  influence,  was  the  found- 
ing of  Amherst  College. 

In  view  of  the  elevated  literary  and  Christian  char- 
acter of  Amherst  Academy,  and  its  extraordinary 
success  as  already  described,  it  is  not  surprising  that 
its  founders  soon  felt  themselves  called  upon  to  make 
higher  and  larger  provision  for  educational  purposes. 
At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  board  of  trustees,  on 
the  1 8th  of  November,  1817,  a  project  formed  by 
Rufus  Graves,  Esq. ,  was  adopted  for  increasing  the 
usefulness  of  the  academy,  by  raising  a  fund  for  the 
gratuitous  instruction  of  "  indigent  young  men  of 
promising  talents  and  hopeful  piety,  who  shall  mani- 
fest a  desire  to  obtain  a  liberal  education  with  a  sole 
view  to  the  Christian  ministry." 

A  committee  appointed  for  the  purpose  entered 
with  zeal  and  alacrity  upon  the  effort  to  raise  money 
for  the  endowment  of  a  professorship  of  languages, 
and  prosecuted  it  for  several  months.  Their  ardent 
and  indefatigable  chairman,  Colonel  Graves,  went  to 
Boston  and  other  large  towns,  and  labored  day  and 
night  to  accomplish  the  object.  But  "they  found," 
in  the  language  of  Mr.  Webster's  narrative  of  the 
proceedings,  "  that  the  establishment  of  a  single  pro- 
fessorship was  too  limited  an  object  to  induce  men  to 
subscribe.  To  engage  public  patronage,  it  was  found 
necessary  to  form  a  plan  for  the  education  of  young 
men  for  the  ministry  on  a  more  extensive  scale." 


6  A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

These  considerations  determined  the  committee  to 
enlarge  their  plan,  and  to  aim  not  merely  at  the  en- 
dowment of  a  professorship  in  the  academy,  but  at 
the  raising  of  a  fund  which  should  be  the  basis  of  a 
separate  institution  of  a  higher  grade.  They  accord- 
ingly framed  and  reported  a  "  constitution  and  system 
of  by-laws  for  raising  and  managing  a  permanent 
charity  fund  as  the  basis  of  an  institution  in  Am- 
herst,  in  the  county  of  Hampshire,  for  the  classical 
education  of  indigent  )roung  men  of  piety  and  talents 
for  the  Christian  ministry."  The  board  of  trustees 
at  their  meeting  on  the  i8th  of  August,  1818,  unani- 
mously accepted  this  report,  approved  the  doings  of 
the  committee,  and  authorized  them  to  take  such 
measures  and  communicate  with  such  persons  and 
corporations  as  they  might  judge  expedient. 

The  fund  which  was  thus  inaugurated  became  the 
corner-stone  of  the  Charity  Institution  and  "the 
sheet-anchor"  of  the  college — as  it  was  often  called 
by  the  professors  and  friends  of  the  college  amid 
the  storms  which  it  afterward  encountered.  No 
document  sheds  so  much  light  on  the  motives  of  the 
founders  of  the  institution  as  this  constitution  of  the 
charity  fund.  It  therefore  merits  careful  considera- 
tion. 

The  constitution  is  drawn  up  in  due  form  as  a  legal 
document, l  with  much  minuteness  of  detail,  and  with 

1  Colonel  Graves  consulted  Jeremiah  Mason  and  Daniel 
Webster  as  to  the  legal  character  of  the  constitution,  and  they 
both  said  it  was  a  legal  instrument,  binding  in  law  on  the 
subscribers ;  and  so  it  was  decided  by  the  Supreme  Court, 
when,  for  the  sake  of  testing  it,  one  of  the  subscribers  refused 
to  pay. 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  7 

every  possible  safeguard  against  the  loss  or  perver- 
sion of  the  fund,  or  the  neglect  of  duty  on  the  part 
of  those  who  are  charged  with  the  care  and  manage- 
ment of  it.  The  first  article  fixes  the  location  of  the 
Institution  at  Amherst,  and  provides  for  the  incor- 
poration of  Williams  College  with  it,  should  it  con- 
tinue to  be  thought  expedient  to  remove  that  insti- 
tution to  the  county  of  Hampshire  and  to  locate  it 
in  the  town  of  Amherst.  The  second  article  contains 
a  promise  of  the  subscribers  to  pay  the  sums  annexed 
to  their  names  for  the  purpose  of  raising  a  permanent 
fund,  to  the  amount  of  at  least  fifty  thousand  dollars, 
as  the  basis  of  a  fund  for  the  proposed  institution, 
provided  that,  in  case  the  sums  subscribed  in  the 
course  of  one  year  shall  not  amount  to  the  full  sum 
of  fifty  thousand  dollars,  then  the  whole,  or  any  part, 
shall  be  void  according  to  the  will  of  any  subscriber 
on  giving  three  months'  notice.  The  third  provides 
that  five-sixths  of  the  interest  of  the  fund  shall  be 
forever  appropriated  to  the  classical  education  in  the 
institution  of  indigent  pious  young  men  for  the  min- 
istry, and  the  other  sixth  shall  be  added  to  the  prin- 
cipal for  its  perpetual  increase,  while  the  principal 
itself  shall  be  secured  intact  and  perpetually  aug- 
menting. Article  fourth  directs  that  the  property 
of  the  fund  shall  be  secured  by  real  estate  or  invested 
in  funds  of  Massachusetts,  or  the  United  States,  or 
some  other  safe  public  stocks.  Article  fifth  vests  the 
management  and  appropriation  of  the  fund,  accord- 
ing to  the  provisions  of  the  constitution  and  by-laws, 
in  the  trustees  of  Amherst  Academy,  until  the  con- 
templated classical  institution  is  established  and  in- 
corporated, and  then  in  the  board  of  trustees  of  said 


8  A   HISTORY    OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

institution  and  their  successors  forever.  Article 
sixth  provides  for  the  appointment  of  a  board  of 
overseers  of  the  fund,  a  skilful  financier,  and  an  au- 
ditor. Article  seventh  requires  the  trustees  to  ap- 
point a  financier  who  shall  be  sworn  to  the  faithful 
discharge  of  his  duty,  under  sufficient  bonds,  and 
subject  to  be  removed  at  their  discretion.  This 
financier,  however,  shall  not  be  their  own  treasurer, 
that  is,  the  treasurer  of  the  Institution,  who  shall  be 
ineligible  to  that  office.  This  article  also  prescribes 
the  duties  of  the  trustees  in  regard  to  the  fund,  such 
as  examining  candidates  for  its  charities,  keeping  a 
correct  record  of  the  amount  of  the  fund,  the  manner 
in  which  it  is  invested  and  secured,  their  receipts  and 
disbursements  from  it,  and  all  their  proceedings  in 
reference  to  it.  Article  eighth  prescribes  minutely 
the  duties  of  the  financier  in  receiving  and  investing 
moneys,  managing  and  guarding  the  fund,  paying 
over  the  interest,  as  provided  in  article  third,  into 
the  treasury  of  the  Institution,  taking  triplicate  re- 
ceipts, one  to  keep  for  his  own  security,  one  to  de- 
posit with  the  secretary  of  the  board  of  trustees,  and 
the  third  with  the  auditor;  keeping  an  accurate  ac- 
count of  the  whole  fund  and  every  part  of  it,  and  re- 
porting the  same  annually  to  the  board  of  trustees. 
The  ninth  article  provides  that  the  financier  shall  be 
paid  from  the  avails  of  the  fund  a  reasonable  sum 
for  his  services  and  responsibility.  The  tenth  pre- 
scribes the  manner  in  which  the  overseers  of  the  fund 
shall  be  appointed  and  perpetuated,  viz. :  the  four 
highest  subscribers  to  the  fund  shall  appoint  each  of 
them  one,  and  the  other  three  shall  be  elected  by  a 
majority  of  the  votes  of  the  other  subscribers  who 


A   HISTORY    OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  9 

may  assemble  for  that  purpose.  Then  the  board 
shall  perpetuate  their  existence  as  such  by  filling 
their  own  vacancies.  In  case  the  board  shall  at  any 
future  time  become  extinct,  the  Governor  and  Council 
of  this  Commonwealth  are  expressly  authorized  to 
appoint  a  new  board.  Article  eleventh  provides  for 
the  appointment  of  an  auditor  by  the  board  of  over- 
seers, and  prescribes  at  great  length  the  duties  of 
that  board.  They  are  required  to  visit  the  institu- 
tion at  its  annual  commencement,  to  receive  and  ex- 
amine the  reports  of  the  trustees  and  the  auditor,  and 
to  inspect  the  records,  files  and  vouchers  of  the  trus- 
tees and  the  financier,  and  in  view  of  all  the  facts,  to 
decide  whether  the  fund  has  been  skilfully  managed, 
and  its  avails  faithfully  applied  according  to  the  will 
of  the  donors.  Article  twelfth  prescribes  the  duties 
of  the  auditor.  Article  thirteenth  provides  for  the 
amendment  of  the  constitution  and  system  of  by-laws 
by  the  concurrent  action  of  the  board  of  trustees  and 
the  board  of  overseers,  "  so,  however,  as  not  to  de- 
viate from  the  original  object  of  civilizing  and  evan- 
gelizing the  world  by  the  classical  education  of  indi- 
gent young  men  of  piety  and  talents,"  "nor  without 
the  majority  of  two-thirds  of  the  members  of  the  said 
board  of  trustees,  and  five-sevenths  of  the  said  board 
of  overseers." 

Article  fourteenth  reads  as  follows :  "  In  order  to 
prevent  the  loss  or  destruction  of  this  constitution  by 
any  wicked  design,  by  fire,  or  by  the  ravages  of  time, 
it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  trustees  of  said  institution, 
as  soon  as  the  aforesaid  sum  of  fifty  thousand  dollars 
shall  be  hereunto  subscribed,  to  cause  triplicate  copies 
of  the  same,  together  with  the  names  of  the  subscrib- 


IO  A   HISTORY   OF  AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

ers  and  the  sum  subscribed  annexed  to  each  name, 
to  be  taken  fairly  written  on  vellum,  one  of  which  to 
be  preserved  in  the  archives  of  said  institution,  one 
in  the  archives  of  said  board  of  overseers,  and  the 
other  in  the  archives  of  this  Commonwealth.  And 
in  case  of  the  loss  or  destruction  of  either  of  said 
copies,  its  deficiency  shall  be  immediately  supplied 
by  an  attested  copy  from  one  of  the  others. " 

In  order  to  secure  the  approval  and  co-operation  of 
the  Christian  community  to  an  extent  commensurate 
with  the  magnitude  of  the  undertaking,  the  trustees 
of  Amherst  Academy,  at  a  meeting  held  on  the  loth 
of  September,  1818,  resolved  to  call  a  convention  of 
"  the  Congregational  and  Presbyterian  clergy  of  the 
several  parishes  in  the  counties  of  Hampshire,  Frank- 
lin, and  Hampden  and  the  western  section  of  the 
county  of  Worcester,  with  their  delegates,  together 
with  one  delegate  from  each  vacant  parish,  and  the 
subscribers  to  the  fund. " 

On  the  29th  of  September,  1818,  in  accordance  with 
this  invitation,  the  convention  met  in  the  church  in 
the  west  parish  of  Amherst.  Thirty-seven  towns 
were  represented,  sixteen  in  Hampshire  County, 
thirteen  in  Franklin,  four  in  Hampden  and  four  in 
Worcester.  Most  of  the  parishes  were  represented 
by  both  a  pastor  and  a  lay  delegate.  Thirty-six 
clergymen  and  thirty-two  laymen  composed  the  con- 
vention. The  constitution  and  by-laws  of  the  pro- 
posed institution  were  read,  and,  after  some  discus- 
sion, the  whole  subject  was  referred  to  a  committee 
of  twelve.  In  the  afternoon,  a  sermon  was  delivered 
before  the  convention  by  Dr.  Lyman.  The  next 
morning,  September  30,  the  committee  presented 


A    HISTORY    OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  II 

their  report.  They  express  in  strong  language  their 
approval  of  the  constitution,  as  the  fruit  of  much 
judicious  reflection,  and  guarding  as  a  legal  instru- 
ment, in  the  most  satisfactory  and  effectual  manner, 
the  faithful  and  appropriate  application  of  the  prop- 
erty consecrated  by  the  donors.  They  had  no  hesi- 
tation in  recommending  Hampshire  County  as  one  of 
the  most  eligible  situations  for  such  an  institution. 
In  regard  to  the  particular  town  in  Hampshire 
County,  while  they  thought  favorably  of  Amherst, 
the  committee  were  of  the  opinion  that  it  would  be 
expedient  to  leave  that  question  to  the  decision  of  a 
disinterested  committee  appointed  by  the  convention. 
The  preamble  of  this  report,  expressing  the  gen- 
eral views  of  the  committee,  was  promptly  accepted 
by  the  convention.  But  on  those  points  in  the  reso- 
lutions which  touched  the  location  of  the  institution 
an  animated  debate  arose  and  continued  through  the 
morning  and  afternoon  sessions.  Able  arguments 
and  eloquent  appeals  were  made  for  and  against  fix- 
ing the  site  definitely  at  Amherst.  Local  feelings 
and  interests  doubtless  influenced  the  speakers  more 
or  less  on  both  sides  of  the  question.  The  most  vio- 
lent opposition  came  from  some  of  the  churches  and 
parishes  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  Amherst.  Sev- 
eral delegates  from  the  west  side  of  the  river,  includ- 
ing those  from  Northampton,  contended  ably  and 
earnestly  in  favor  of  locating  the  institution  at  North- 
ampton. The  discussion  was  carried  from  the  con- 
vention to  the  families  where  the  members  were 
entertained,  and  there  are  still  living  those  who  well 
remember  that  the  excitement  ran  so  high  as  to  dis- 
turb their  sleep  long  after  the  hour  of  midnight. 


12  A    HISTORY    OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

The  people  of  Amherst  were  deeply  moved.  The 
house  was  filled  with  anxious  spectators.  Business 
was  almost  suspended.  The  academy  took  a  recess, 
and  teachers  and  pupils  hung  with  breathless  interest 
on  the  debate.  "  Until  noon  of  the  second  day  of  the 
convention," — I  use  the  language  of  one  who  was 
then  a  student  in  the  academy  and  an  eye-witness,1 
— "  the  weight  of  argument  was  in  favor  of  North- 
ampton, and  things  looked  blue  for  a  location  in 
Amherst.  In  the  afternoon,  Samuel  Fowler  Dickin- 
son, taking  his  position  in  the  aisle  of  the  old  church, 
laid  himself  out,  in  one  of  the  most  powerful  and 
telling  speeches  which  were  made  on  this  occasion, 
gaining  the  full  attention  of  the  whole  convention, 
and  no  doubt  greatly  influencing  many  in  their  votes. 
After  which,  George  Grennell,  who  was  secretary  of 
the  convention,  left  his  seat,  taking  his  place  in  the 
aisle,  and  also  delivered  a  very  powerful  and  effective 
speech,  still  keeping  the  full  attention  of  the  conven- 
tion. These  two  speeches  produced  a  new  and  dif- 
ferent feeling  throughout  the  house,  and  the  result, 
when  the  vote  was  taken,  was  in  favor  of  Amherst  as 
a  location  for  the  institution." 

The  enterprise  was  thus  fairly  launched,  and  the 
raising  of  money  was  prosecuted  with  such  zeal  and 
success  that,  at  a  special  meeting  of  the  trustees  of 
Amherst  Academy,  in  July,  1819,  a  committee  ap- 
pointed to  examine  the  subscription  reported  that 
the  money  and  other  property  amounted,  at  a  fair 
estimate,  to  fifty-one  thousand  four  hundred  and  four 
dollars,  thus  making  more  than  the  sum  proposed  in 
less  than  the  time  allowed  by  the  constitution. 

1  D.  W.  Norton,  Esq.,  of  Suffield,  Conn. 


A    HISTORY    OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  13 

As  early  as  1815,  six  years  before  the  opening  of 
Amherst  College,  the  question  of  removing  Williams 
College  to  some  more  central  part  of  Massachusetts 
was  agitated  among  its  friends  and  in  its  board  of 
trustees.  At  that  time  Williams  College  had  two 
buildings  and  fifty-eight  students,  with  two  professors 
and  two  tutors.  The  library  contained  fourteen  hun- 
dred volumes.  The  funds  were  reduced  and  the  in- 
come fell  short  of  the  expenditures.  Many  of  the 
friends  and  supporters  of  the  college  were  fully  per- 
suaded that  it  could  not  be  sustained  in  its  present 
location.  The  chief  ground  of  this  persuasion  was 
the  extreme  difficulty  of  access  to  it. 

At  the  same  meeting  of  the  board  of  trustees  at 
which  Professor  Moore  was  elected  president  of  Wil- 
liams College,  May  2,  1815,  Dr.  Packard  of  Shelburne 
introduced  the  following  motion :  "  That  a  committee 
of  six  persons  be  appointed  to  take  into  consideration 
the  removal  of  the  college  to  some  other  part  of  the 
Common  wealth,  to  make  all  necessary  inquiries  which 
have  a  bearing  on  the  subject,  and  report  at  the  next 
meeting."  The  motion  was  adopted,  and  at  the  next 
meeting  of  the  board  in  September,  the  committee 
reported  that  "  a  removal  of  Williams  College  from 
Williamstown  is  inexpedient  at  the  present  time,  and 
under  existing  circumstances. " 

But  the  question  of  removal  thus  raised  in  the 
board  of  trustees  and  thus  negatived  only  "  at  the 
present  time  and  under  existing  circumstances, "  con- 
tinued to  be  agitated.  And  at  a  meeting  on  the  loth 
of  November,  1818,  influenced  more  or  less  doubtless 
lay  the  action  of  the  Franklin  County  Association  of 
Congregational  Ministers,  and  the  Convention  of 


14  A    HISTORY    OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

Congregational  and  Presbyterian  Ministers  in  Am- 
herst,  the  board  of  trustees  resolved  that  it  was  ex- 
pedient to  remove  the  college  on  certain  conditions. 
President  Moore  advocated  the  removal,  and  even 
expressed  his  purpose  to  resign  the  office  of  president 
unless  it  could  be  effected,  inasmuch  as  when  he 
accepted  the  presidency  he  had  no  idea  that  the 
college  was  to  remain  at  Williamstown,  but  was  au- 
thorized to  expect  that  it  would  be  removed  to  Hamp- 
shire County.  Nine  out  of  twelve  of  the  trustees 
voted  for  the  resolutions,  which  were  as  follows : 

"  Resolved,  that  it  is  expedient  to  remove  Williams 
College  to  some  more  central  part  of  the  State  when- 
ever sufficient  funds  can  be  obtained  to  defray  the 
necessary  expenses  incurred  and  the  losses  sustained 
by  removal,  and  to  secure  the  prosperity  of  the  col- 
lege, and  when  a  fair  prospect  shall  be  presented  of 
obtaining  for  the  institution  the  united  support  and 
patronage  of  the  friends  of  literature  and  religion  in 
the  western  part  of  the  Commonwealth,  and  when  the 
General  Court  shall  give  their  assent  to  the  measure. " 

In  November,  1819,  the  trustees  of  Williams  Col- 
lege voted  to  petition  the  Legislature  for  permission 
to  remove  the  college  to  Northampton.  To  this  ap- 
plication, Mr.  Webster  says,  "the  trustees  of  Amherst 
Academy  made  no  opposition  and  took  no  measures 
to  defeat  it."  In  February,  1820,  the  petition  was 
laid  before  the  Legislature.  The  committee  from 
both  houses,  to  whom  it  was  referred,  after  a  careful 
examination  of  the  whole  subject,  reported  that  it 
was  neither  lawful  nor  expedient  to  remove  the 
college,  and  the  Legislature,  taking  the  same  view, 
rejected  the  petition.  The  trustees  of  Amherst 


A   HISTORY   OF  AMHERST   COLLEGE.  I  5 

Academy,  who  had  been  quietly  awaiting  the  issue 
of  the  application,  judged  that  the  way  was  now  open 
for  them  to  proceed  with  their  original  design  ac- 
cording to  the  advice  of  the  convention,  and  at  their 
meeting  in  March,  1820,  they  took  measures  for  col- 
lecting the  subscriptions  to  the  charity  fund,  raising 
additional  subscriptions,  erecting  a  suitable  build- 
ing, and  opening  the  institution  as  soon  as  possible 
for  the  reception  of  students.  Thus  the  long  and  ex- 
citing discussion  touching  the  removal  of  Williams 
College  and  the  location  of  a  college  in  some  more 
central  town  of  old  Hampshire  County  at  length 
came  to  an  end,  and  the  contending  parties  now  di- 
rected all  their  energies  to  building  up  the  institu- 
tions of  their  choice. 

Few  questions  have  agitated  the  good  people  of 
Western  Massachusetts  more  generally  or  more  deeply 
than  this.  Whether  one  college  would  have  been  bet- 
ter than  two  for  Western  Massachusetts,  and  if  there 
was  to  be  but  one,  whether  that  one  should  have 
been  at  Williamstown,  Northampton,  or  Amherst,  are 
questions  which  we  are  not  now  called  to  answer. 
But  that  these  good  men  had  the  best  interests  of 
learning  and  religion  at  heart  and  were  foreseeing 
and  far-seeing  beyond  most  men  in  their  generation 
we  have  no  doubt.  They  certainly  did  not  overesti- 
mate the  importance  of  a  college  in  Hampshire 
County,  and  their  wise  plans  and  persevering  efforts 
have  resulted,  under  the  overruling  providence  of 
God,  in  the  upbuilding  of  two  colleges,  each  of  which 
has  far  exceeded  not  only  the  one  which  then  ex- 
isted, but  the  most  sanguine  hopes  of  the  founders 
of  either,  in  its  prosperity  and  usefulness. 


CHAPTER   II. 

ERECTION  OF  THE  FIRST  COLLEGE  EDIFICE INAUGURA- 
TION OF  THE  PRESIDENT  AND  PROFESSORS  AND 
OPENING  OF  THE  COLLEGE. 

AT  a  meeting  of  the  board  of  trustees  of  Amherst 
Academy,  May  10,  1820,  it  was  voted  "that  Samuel 
F.  Dickinson,  H.  W.  Strong,  and  Nathaniel  Smith, 
Esquires,  Dr.  Rufus  Cowles,  and  Lieut.  Enos  Ba- 
ker be  a  committee  to  secure  a  good  and  sufficient 
title  to  the  ten  acres  of  land  conditionally  conveyed 
to  the  trustees  of  this  academy  as  the  site  of  said  in- 
stitution by  the  late  Col.  Elijah  Dickinson,  and  for 
the  special  benefit  of  the  charity  fund ;  to  digest  a 
plan  of  a  suitable  building  for  said  institution;  to 
procure  subscriptions,  donations,  or  contributions  for 
defraying  the  expense  thereof;  to  prepare  the  ground 
and  erect  the  same  as  soon  as  the  necessary  means  can 
be  furnished, — the  location  to  be  made  with  the  ad- 
vice and  consent  of  the  prudential  committee."  At 
this  meeting  it  was  further  resolved  "  that  great  and 
combined  exertions  of  the  Christian  public  are  neces- 
sary to  give  due  effect  to  the  Charity  Institution ;" 
and  Joshua  Crosby,  Jonathan  Grout,  James  Taylor, 
Edwards  Whipple,  John  Fiske,  and  Joseph  Vaill  were 
appointed  agents  to  make  application  for  additional 
funds,  and  for  contributions  to  aid  in  erecting  suit- 
able buildings  for  the  accommodation  of  students. 

16 


A    HISTORY    OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  I/ 

The  committee  proceeded  at  once  to  execute  the 
trust  committed  to  them,  secured  a  title  to  the  land, 
marked  out  the  ground  for  the  site  of  a  building,  the 
present  South  College,  one  hundred  feet  long,  thirty 
feet  wide  and  four  stories  high,  and  invited  the  hi' 
habitants  of  Amherst  friendly  to  the  object  to  con- 
tribute labor  and  materials,  with  provisions  for  the 
workmen.  With  this  request,  the  inhabitants  of  Am- 
herst friendly  to  the  institution,  together  with  some 
from  Pelham  and  Leverett  and  a  few  from  Belcher- 
town  and  Hadley,  cheerfully  complied.  Occasional 
contributions  were  also  received  from  more  distant 
towns,  even  on  the  mountains.  The  stone  for  the 
foundation  was  brought  chiefly  from  Pelham  by  gra- 
tuitous labor,1  and  provisions  for  the  workmen  were 
furnished  by  voluntary  contributions.  Donations  of 
lime,  sand,  lumber,  materials  of  all  kinds,  flowed  in 
from  every  quarter.  Teams  for  hauling,  and  men  for 
handling  and  tending,  and  unskilled  labor  of  every 
sort,  were  provided  in  abundance.  Whatever  could 
be  contributed  gratuitously  was  furnished  without 
money  and  without  price.  The  people  not  only  con- 
tributed in  kind  but  turned  out  in  person,  and  some- 
times camped  on  the  ground  and  labored  day  and 
night,  for  they  had  a  mind  to  work  like  the  Jews  in 
building  their  temple,  and  they  felt  that  they  too 

1  The  same  gentleman,  a  native  of  Pelham,  who  has  recently 
endowed  the  scholarship  of  the  first  class — the  class  of  1822 — 
more  than  fifty  years  ago  brought  the  first  load  of  stone  upon 
the  ground  as  a  free-will  offering.  "That  gentleman  was 
Wells  Southworth,  Esq. ,  of  New  Haven,  Conn.  Those  gran- 
ite blocks  are  now  in  the  foundations  of  the  old  South  College." 
— Professor  Snell's  address  at  the  Semi-Centennial. 


1 8  A    HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

were  building  the  Lord's  house.  The  horse-sheds 
which  then  ran  along  the  whole  line,  east  of  the 
church,  and  west  of  the  land  devoted  to  the  college, 
were  removed.  The  old  Virginia  fence  disappeared. 
Plow  and  scraper,  pick-axe,  hoe,  and  shovel,  were  all 
put  in  requisition  together  to  level  the  ground  for 
the  building  and  dig  the  trenches  for  the  walls.  It 
was  a  busy  and  stirring  scene  such  as  the  quiet  town 
of  Amherst  had  never  before  witnessed,  and  which 
the  old  men  and  aged  women  of  the  town,  who  par- 
ticipated in  it  when  they  were  boys  and  girls,  were 
never  weary  of  relating.  The  foundations  were 
speedily  laid.  On  the  pth  of  August  they  were  nearly 
completed  and  ready  for  the  laying  of  the  corner- 
stone. The  walls  went  up,  if  possible,  still  more 
rapidly.  We  doubt  if  there  has  been  anything  like 
it  in  modern  times.  Certainly  we  have  never  seen 
or  read  of  a  parallel.  The  story,  as  told  by  eye- 
witnesses and  actors,  is  almost  incredible.  "  Not- 
withstanding," says  Noah  Webster,1  a  man  who  was 
not  given  to  exaggeration,  "notwithstanding  the 
building  committee  had  no  funds  for  erecting  the 
building,  not  even  a  cent,  except  what  were  to  be 
derived  from  gratuities  in  labor,  materials,  and  pro- 
visions, yet  they  prosecuted  the  work  with  untiring 
diligence.  Repeatedly,  during  the  progress  of  the 
work,  their  means  were  exhausted,  and  they  were 
obliged  to  notify  the  president  of  the  board  that  they 
could  proceed  no  further.  On  these  occasions  the 
president  called  together  the  trustees,  or  a  number 

1  Mr.  Webster  removed  in  1812  from  New  Haven  to  Amherst, 
where  he  spent  ten  of  the  most  laborious  and  fruitful  years  of 
his  life  on  his  great  life-work,  the  American  Dictionary. 


A   HISTORY    OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  19 

of  them,  who,  by  subscriptions  of  their  own,  and  by 
renewed  solicitation  for  voluntary  contributions,  en- 
abled the  committee  to  prosecute  the  work.  And 
such  were  the  exertions  of  the  board,  the  committee 
and  the  friends  of  the  institution  that  on  the  ninetieth 
day  from  the  laying  of  the  corner-stone,  the  roof 
timbers  were  erected  on  the  building." 

"It  seemed,"  exclaims  President  Humphrey,  "it 
seemed  more  like  magic  than  the  work  of  the  crafts- 
men !  Only  a  few  weeks  ago  the  timber  was  in  the 
forest,  the  brick  in  the  clay,  and  the  stone  in  the 
quarry!" 

The  college  well  was  dug  at  the  same  time  and  in 
very  much  the  same  way — that  well  from  which  so 
many  generations  of  students  have  since  drunk  health 
and  refreshment,  and  which  is  usually  one  of  the 
first  things  that  an  Amherst  alumnus  seeks  when  he 
revisits  his  alma  mater.  And  "when  the  roof  and 
chimneys  were  completed,  the  bills  unpaid  and  un- 
provided for  were  less  than  thirteen  hundred  dollars." 
Here  the  work  was  suspended  for  the  winter.  But 
it  was  resumed  in  the  spring,  and  then  the  interior 
of  the  building  was  finished  by  similar  means,  and 
with  almost  equal  dispatch. 

By  the  middle  of  June  the  building  was  so  nearly 
completed  that  the  trustees  made  arrangements  for 
its  dedication  in  connection  with  the  inauguration  of 
the  president  and  professors,  and  the  opening  of  the 
institution  in  September.  And  before  the  end  of 
September,  not  only  was  the  edifice  finished,  but 
about  half  of  the  rooms  were  furnished  for  the  recep- 
tion of  students,  through  the  agency  of  churches  and 
benevolent  individuals,  especially  of  the  ladies  in 


2O  A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

different  towns  in  Hampshire  and  the  adjoining 
counties. 

We  must  now  go  back  to  give  some  account  of  the 
exercises  at  the  laying  of  the  corner-stone,  the  ap- 
pointment of  officers  of  the  institution,  and  other 
measures  preliminary  to  the  dedication  and  the 
opening. 

The  following  is  the  order  of  exercises  at  the  lay- 
ing of  the  corner-stone  substantially  as  it  was  given 
to  the  public  shortly  after  the  occasion :  "  On  the  9th 
of  August,  1820,  the  board  of  trustees  of  Amherst 
Academy,  together  with  the  subscribers  to  the  fund 
then  present,  a  number  of  the  neighboring  clergy 
and  the  preceptors  and  students  of  the  academy,  pre- 
ceded by  the  building  committee  and  the  workmen, 
moved  in  procession  from  the  academy  to  the  ground 
of  the  Charity  Institution.  The  Throne  of  Grace  was 
then  addressed  by  Rev.  Mr.  Crosby  of  Enfield,  and 
the  ceremony  of  laying  the  corner-stone  was  per- 
formed by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Parsons,  president  of  the 
board,  in  presence  of  a  numerous  concourse  of  spec- 
tators ;  after  which  an  address  was  delivered  by  Noah 
Webster,  Esq. ,  vice-president  of  the  board.  The  as- 
sembly then  proceeded  to  the  church,  where  an  ap- 
propriate introductory  prayer  was  made  by  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Porter  of  Belchertown,  a  sermon  delivered  by 
the  Rev.  Daniel  A.  Clark  of  Amherst,  and  the  ex- 
ercises concluded  with  prayer  by  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Grout  of  Hawley.  The  performances  of  the  day 
were  interesting,  and  graced  with  excellent  music." 

On  the  same  day,  at  a  meeting  of  the  subscribers 
to  the  fund,  they  having  been  duly  notified,  the  Rev. 
Nathaniel  Howe  of  Hopkinton  being  chosen  moder- 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  21 

ator,  and  the  Rev.  Moses  Miller  of  Heath,  secretary, 
the  meeting  was  opened  with  prayer  by  the  moder- 
ator, and  the  following  gentlemen  were  then  elected 
overseers  of  the  fund,  namely:  Henry  Gray,  Esq., 
of  Boston,  Gen.  Salem  Towne,  Jr.,  of  Charlton,  Rev. 
Theophilus  Packard  of  Shelburne,  Rev.  Thomas 
Snell  of  North  Brookfield,  Rev.  Luther  Sheldon  of 
Easton,  Rev.  Heman  Humphrey  of  Pittsfield,  and 
H.  Wright  Strong,  Esq.,  of  Amherst. 

The  board  of  trustees  of  Amherst  Academy  at  this 
time,  who  acted  as  trustees  of  the  charity  fund,  was 
composed  of  the  following  members:  Rev.  David 
Parsons,  president;  Noah  Webster,  vice-president; 
Rev.  James  Taylor,  Rev.  Joshua  Crosby,  Rev.  Daniel 
A.  Clark,  Nathaniel  Smith,  Esq.,  Samuel  F.  Dickin- 
son, and  Rufus  Graves.  After  the  public  exercises 
of  this  occasion,  Dr.  Parsons  resigned  his  seat  in  the 
board,  and  Noah  Webster  was  elected  president  of 
the  board. 

By  request  of  the  trustees  the  address  of  Mr.  Web- 
ster and  the  sermon  of  Mr.  Clark  were  both  printed 
and  published.  In  reading  them,  no  thought  strikes 
us  so  forcibly  as  the  philanthropic,  Christian,  and 
missionary  spirit  of  the  founders. 

The  connection  between  the  Charity  Institution 
at  Amherst,  and  those  education  societies  which  had 
sprung  up  a  little  earlier  and  were  born  of  the  same 
missionary  spirit,  could  not  but  be  very  intimate  and 
productive  of  most  important  results.  As  early  as 
September,  1820,  a  committee  of  the  trustees  was 
directed  to  correspond  with  the  American  Education 
Society  on  the  subject  of  the  terms  on  which  the 
board  might  co-operate  with  that  society  in  the  edu- 


A    HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

cation  of  their  beneficiaries.  At  a  meeting  of  the 
board  in  November,  1820,  the  trustees  passed  a  vote 
authorizing  the  prudential  committee  to  receive  into 
the  academy  as  beneficiaries  from  education  societies 
or  elsewhere,  charity  students,  not  exceeding  twenty. 
In  June,  1821,  they  voted  that  persons  wishing  to 
avail  themselves  of  the  charity  fund  as  beneficiaries 
should  be  under  the  patronage  of  some  education  so- 
ciety or  other  respectable  association  which  should 
furnish  to  each  beneficiary  a  part  of  his  support, 
amounting  at  least  to  one  dollar  a  week,  for  which 
he  was  to  be  furnished  with  board  and  tuition.  They 
required  also,  that  every  applicant  should  produce  to 
the  examining  committee  satisfactory  evidence  of 
his  indigence,  piety  and  promising  talents. 

As  the  constitution  required  that  the  charity  fund 
should  forever  be  kept  separate  from  the  other  funds 
of  the  institution,  and  under  another  financier,  at  a 
meeting  November  8,  1820,  the  trustees  appointed 
John  Leland  as  their  agent  to  receive  all  donations 
made  for  the  benefit  of  the  Charity  Institution,  other 
than  those  made  to  the  permanent  fund.  For  this 
office,  which  he  held  fourteen  years,  Mr.  Lei  and  never 
received  a  salary  of  more  than  three  hundred  dollars. 
At  the  same  time  the  commissioner  of  the  charity 
fund  received  only  two  hundred  dollars  per  annum 
for  his  services.  It  will  be  seen  that  the  institution 
commenced  on  a  basis  of  economy,  in  reference  both 
to  its  officers  and  its  students,  which  corresponded 
with  its  charitable  object. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  trustees  of  Amherst  Academy 
on  the  8th  of  May,  1821,  it  was  "Voted  unanimously, 
That  the  Rev.  Zephaniah  Swift  Moore  be,  and  he  is 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  23 

hereby,  elected  president  of  the  Charity  Institution 
in  this  town. 

"  Voted,  That  the  permanent  salary  of  the  president 
of  this  institution  for  his  services  as  president  and 
professor  of  theology  and  moral  philosophy  be 
twelve  hundred  dollars,  and  that  he  is  entitled  to 
the  usual  perquisites." 

At  the  same  time  the  trustees  resolved  to  build  a 
house  for  the  president,  provided  they  could  procure 
sufficient  donations  of  money,  materials,  and  labor. 
They  also  decided  that  the  first  term  of  study  in  the 
institution  should  commence  on  the  third  Wednesday 
of  September.  It  is  worthy  of  record  that  at  this 
meeting  they  passed  a  vote  prohibiting  the  students 
from  drinking  ardent  spirits  or  wine,  or  any  liquor 
of  which  ardent  spirits  or  wine  should  be  the  princi- 
pal ingredient,  at  any  inn,  tavern,  or  shop,  or  keep- 
ing ardent  spirits  or  wine  in  their  rooms,  or  at  any 
time  indulging  in  the  use  of  them.  Thus  early  was 
temperance  as  well  as  economy  established  as  one  of 
the  characteristic  and  fundamental  principles  of  the 
institution.  It  is  an  interesting  coincidence  that  at 
this  meeting  in  May,  when  President  Moore  was 
elected  to  the  presidency,  the  Rev.  Heman  Humphrey 
of  Pittsfield,  who  was  destined  to  succeed  him  in  the 
office,  preached  in  accordance  with  a  previous  ap- 
pointment "a  very  appropriate  and  useful  sermon," 
for  which  he  received  "  an  address  of  thanks"  by  vote 
of  the  trustees. 

In  his  letter  of  acceptance,  dated  Williamstown, 
June  12,  1821,  President  Moore  insists  that  the  classi- 
cal education  of  the  students  shall  be  thorough.  "  I 
should  be  wholly  averse,"  he  says,  "to  becoming 


24  A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

united  with  any  institution  which  proposes  to  give  a 
classical  education  inferior  to  that  given  in  any  of 
the  colleges  in  New  England.  On  this  subject  I  am 
assured  your  opinion  is  the  same  as  my  own,  and  that 
you  are  determined  that  the  course  of  study  in  the 
institution  to  which  you  have  invited  me  shall  not 
be  inferior  to  that  in  the  colleges  in  New  England." 

That  the  trustees  were  in  perfect  unison  with  the 
president  in  regard  to  these  vital  points  to  which  he 
attached  so  much  importance,  they  showed  by  voting 
in  their  meeting  on  the  thirteenth  day  of  June  that 
the  preparatory  studies  or  qualifications  of  candidates 
for  admission  to  the  Charity  Institution,  and  the 
course  of  studies  to  be  pursued  during  the  four  years 
of  membership,  should  be  the  same  as  those  estab- 
lished in  Yale  College.  And  that  the  public  might 
not  be  left  in  doubt  on  these  points,  the  president  of 
the  board  soon  after  gave  public  notice  in  the  news- 
papers, that  "  Young  men  who  expect  to  defray  the 
expenses  of  their  education,  will  be  admitted  into  the 
collegiate  institution  on  terms  essentially  the  same 
as  those  prescribed  for  admission  into  other  colleges 
in  New  England/' 

At  the  same  session,  the  trustees  elected  the  Rev. 
Gamaliel  S.  Olds  to  be  professor  of  mathematics  and 
natural  philosophy,  and  Joseph  Estabrook  to  be  pro- 
fessor of  the  Greek  and  Latin  languages,  and  voted 
that  the  president  and  professors  elect  should  be  in- 
augurated and  the  college  edifice  dedicated  with 
suitable  religious  services  on  the  Tuesday  next  pre- 
ceding the  third  Wednesday  of  September,  and  that 
Professor  Stuart  of  Andover  be  invited  to  preach 
the  dedication  sermon. 


A    HISTORY    OF   AMHERST    COLLEGE.  25 

At  the  time  appointed,  the  i8th  of  September, 
1821,  the  exercises  of  dedication  and  of  inauguration 
were  held  in  the  parish  church.  After  introductory  re- 
marks by  Noah  Webster,  Esq. ,  president  of  the  board, 
in  which  he  recognized  the  peculiar  propriety  "  that 
an  undertaking  having  for  its  special  object  the  pro- 
motion of  the  religion  of  Christ  should  be  commended 
to  the  favor  and  protection  of  the  great  Head  of  the 
Church,"  and  its  buildings  and  funds  solemnly  dedi- 
cated to  his  service,  a  dedicatory  prayer  was  offered 
by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Crosby  of  Enfield,  and  a  sermon  was 
preached  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Leland  of  Charleston,  S.  C.,1 
from  the  text:  "  On  this  rock  will  I  build  my  church, 
and  the  gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail  against  it." 
President  Moore  and  Professor  Estabrook,2  having 
publicly  signified  their  acceptance  and  their  assent 
to  the  confession  of  faith 3  which  had  been  prepared 
for  the  occasion,  were  then  solemnly  inducted  into 
their  respective  offices  by  the  president  of  the  board, 
with  promises  of  hearty  co-operation  and  support  by 
the  trustees,  and  earnest  prayers  for  "  the  guidance 
and  protection  of  the  great  Head  of  the  Church,  to 
whose  service  this  institution  is  consecrated."  A 
brief  address  was  then  delivered  by  each  of  them, 

1  "  For  special  reasons,  Professor  Stuart  declined  to  preach  on 
the  occasion."     Dr.  Leland  "was  on  a  visit  to  his  father,  then 
resident  in  Amherst." — Dr.  Webster' s  Manuscript. 

2  Professor  Olds  had  signified  his  acceptance,  but  was  not 
present  at  the  inauguration. 

8  Of  this  confession  of  faith  I  find  no  record,  except  that  it 
was  reported  to  the  trustees  by  a  committee  appointed  for  the 
purpose  immediately  previous  to  the  exercises  of  inauguration. 
The  committee  consisted  of  the  Rev.  Zephaniah  S.  Moore,  the 
Rev.  Thomas  Snell,  and  the  Rev.  Daniel  A.  Clark. 


26  A   HISTORY    OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

and  the  concluding  prayer  was  offered  by  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Snell  of  North  Brookfield.  At  the  close  of  the 
exercises  a  collection  was  made  for  the  benefit  of  the 
institution;  and  the  corner-stone  of  the  president's 
house  was  laid  with  the  usual  ceremonies. 

The  next  day,  September  19,  the  college  was 
opened  and  organized  by  the  examination  and  ad- 
mission of  forty-seven  students,  some  into  each  of  the 
four  regular  classes.  Of  this  number  fifteen  followed 
Dr.  Moore  from  Williams  College,  a  little  less  than 
one-third  of  the  whole  number  at  Amherst,  and  a 
little  less  than  one-fifth  of  the  whole  number  in  the 
three  classes  to  which  they  belonged  in  Williams 
College.  This  was  "a  larger  number,  I  believe," 
says  Dr.  Humphrey,  "  than  ever  had  been  matricu- 
lated on  the  first  day  of  opening  any  new  college. 
It  was  a  day  of  great  rejoicings.  What  had  God 
wrought!" 


€iSE 
OF  THE 
[VERSITT 
J 


CHAPTER    III. 

THE    FIRST  PRESIDENCY FIRST  CATALOGUE    AND  COURSE 

OF      STUDY THE      LITERARY      SOCIETIES EARLY     AM- 

HERST DEATH    OF    PRESIDENT    MOORE. 

FIRST  things,  whether  they  are  the  first  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  world,  or  only  the  first  in  a  country,  or 
a  town,  or  an  institution,  besides  their  intrinsic 
value,  have  a  relative  interest  and  importance  which 
justify  and  perhaps  require  the  historian  to  dwell 
upon  them  at  greater  length. 

The  first  edifice  of  the  Charity  Institution,  as  we 
have  seen  in  the  foregoing  chapter,  was  the  present 
South  College.  Although  it  was  erected  so  rapidly 
and  finished  and  furnished  to  so  great  an  extent  by 
voluntary  contributions  of  labor  and  material,  it  was 
one  of  the  best  built,  and  is  to  this  day  one  of  the 
best  preserved  and  most  substantial  of  all  the  build- 
ings on  the  grounds.  The  rooms  were  originally 
large,  square,  single  rooms,  without  any  bedrooms, 
and  served  the  double  purpose  of  a  dormitory  and  a 
study.  A  full  quarter  of  a  century  elapsed  before 
bed-rooms  were  placed  in  South  College.  Some  of 
the  rooms,  besides  serving  as  sleeping-rooms  and 
studies  for  their  occupants,  were  also  of  necessity 
used  for  a  time  as  recitation-rooms  for  the  classes. 
Thus  the  room  of  Pindar  Field  and  Ebenezer  S.  Snell, 
the  two  seniors  who  for  some  time  constituted  the 
senior  class — it  was  the  room  in  the  southwest  corner 

27 


28  A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

of  the  fourth  story — was  the  senior  recitation-room, 
and  there  President  Moore  daily  met  and  instructed 
his  first  senior  class.  Four  chairs  constituted  the 
whole  furniture  and  apparatus  of  this  first  recitation- 
room.  The  library,  which  at  this  time  was  all  con- 
tained in  a  single  case  scarcely  six  feet  wide,  was  at 
first  placed  in  the  north  entry  of  the  same  building, 
the  old  South  College. 

Morning  and  evening  prayers  were  at  first  attended 
in  the  old  village  "meeting-house,"  which  then  occu- 
pied the  site  of  the  observatory,  and  was  considered 
one  of  the  best  church  edifices  in  Hampshire  County. 
The  relations  between  the  students  and  the  families 
in  the  village  were  in  the  highest  degree  confidential 
and  affectionate,  and  the  letters  which  the  author  has 
received  from  the  alumni  of  those  halcyon  days,  al- 
though the  writers  have  already  reached  their  three- 
score years  and  ten,  still  read  very  much  like  love- 
letters. 

The  bell  of  the  old  parish  meeting-house  continued 
to  summon  the  students  to  all  their  exercises  till,  ere 
long,  one  was  presented  to  the  college.  A  coarse, 
clumsy,  wooden  tower  or  frame  was  erected  between 
the  college  and  the  meeting-house  to  receive  this  first 
college  bell.  This  tower,  then  one  of  the  most  re- 
markable objects  on  College  Hill,  became  the  butt  of 
ridicule  and  was  at  length  capsized  by  the  students, 
and  the  bell  was  finally  transferred  to  the  new  chapel. 

The  growing  popularity  and  prosperity  of  the  in- 
stitution soon  made  it  manifest  that  it  would  require 
more  ample  accommodations.  In  the  summer  of 
1822,  the  president's  house,  now  owned  and  occupied 
by  the  Psi  Upsilon  Society,  was  completed.  About 


A   HISTORY    OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  2Q 

the  same  time  a  second  edifice  was  commenced,  and  a 
subscription  of  thirty  thousand  dollars  was  opened 
to  pay  debts  already  contracted,  to  finish  the  new 
building,  and  to  defray  other  necessary  expenses.  At 
the  opening  of  the  second  term  of  the  second  colle- 
giate year  in  the  winter  of  1822-23,  this  edifice,  the 
present  North  College,  was  already  completed  and 
occupied  for  the  first  time.  The  rooms  were  not  all 
filled,  however,  and,  for  some  time,  unoccupied 
rooms  were  rented  to  students  of  the  academy. 
Still  "no  room  was  furnished  with  a  carpet,  only 
one  with  blinds,  and  not  half  a  dozen  were  painted." 

The  two  corner  rooms  in  the  south  entry  and  fourth 
story  of  this  new  building,  being  left  without  any 
partition  between  themselves  or  between  them  and 
the  adjoining  entry,  were  now  converted  into  a  hall 
which  served  at  once  for  a  chapel  and  a  lecture-room, 
where  lectures  on  the  physical  sciences  followed  the 
morning  and  evening  devotions,  thus  uniting  learn- 
ing and  religion  according  to  the  original  design  of 
the  institution,  but  where  the  worship  was  some- 
times disturbed  by  too  free  a  mixture  of  acids  and 
gases.  The  two  middle  rooms  adjoining  this  hall 
were  also  appropriated  to  public  uses,  one  of  them 
becoming  the  place  where  the  library  was  now  de- 
posited, and  the  other  the  first  cabinet  for  chemical 
and  philosophical  apparatus. 

A  semi-official  notice  in  "The  Boston  Recorder," 
dated  October  i,  1821,  announces  that  "a  college 
library  is  begun,  and  now  contains  nearly  seven 
hundred  volumes.  A  philosophical  apparatus  is  pro- 
vided for,  and  it  is  expected  will  be  procured  the 
coming  winter." 


30  A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

The  first  lectures  in  chemistry  were  given  by 
Colonel  Graves,  who  had  been  a  lecturer  in  the 
same  department  previously,  at  Dartmouth  College. 
These  lectures  were  delivered  in  a  private  room  used 
as  a  lecture-room  in  South  College.  It  was  quite 
an  enlargement  and  sign  of  progress  when  Professor 
Eaton  began  to  lecture  to  all  the  classes  together  in 
the  new  hall  in  the  new  North  College. 

The  first  "  Catalogue  of  the  Faculty  and  Students 
of  the  Collegiate  Institution,  Amherst,  Mass.,"  was 
issued  in  March,  1822,  that  is,  about  six  months 
after  the  opening.  It  was  a  single  sheet,  about 
twelve  by  fourteen  inches  in  size,  and  printed  only 
on  one  side,  like  a  hand-bill.  In  this,  as  in  many 
other  things,  Amherst  followed  the  example  of  Wil- 
liams College,  whose  catalogue,  issued  in  1795,  ac- 
cording to  Dr.  Robbins,  the  antiquarian,  was  the 
first  catalogue  of  the  members  of  a  college  published 
in  this  country.  The  faculty,  as  their  names  and 
titles  were  printed  on  this  catalogue,  consisted  of 
Rev.  Zephaniah  Swift  Moore,  D.D.,  president  and 
professor  of  divinity;  Rev.  Gamaliel  S.  Olds, 
A.M.,  professor  of  mathematics  and  natural  philos- 
ophy; Joseph  Estabrook,  A.M.,  professor  of  lan- 
guages and  librarian;  Rev.  Jonas  King,  A.M., 
professor  of  oriental  literature;  and  Lucius  Field, 
A.  B.,  tutor.  But  the  professor  of  oriental  lan- 
guages was  never  installed,  and  the  instruction  was 
all  given  by  the  president  with  two  professors  and 
one  tutor.  The  president  was  not  only  the  sole 
teacher  of  the  senior  class,  but  gave  instruction  also 
to  the  sophomores.  The  number  of  students  had 
now  increased  from  forty-seven  to  fifty-nine,  viz. : 


A   HISTORY    OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  31 

three  seniors,  six  juniors,  nineteen  sophomores,  and 
thirty-one  freshmen.  But  dissatisfied  with  this 
hand-bill,  they  issued  in  the  same  month  of  the 
same  year  (March,  1822),  the  same  catalogue  of 
names,  in  the  form  of  a  pamphlet  of  eight  pages, 
which  contained,  besides  the  names  of  the  faculty 
and  students,  the  requirements  for  admission  to  the 
freshman  class,  an  outline  of  the  course  of  study, 
and  a  statement  of  the  number  of  volumes  in  the 
libraries  of  the  institution  and  of  the  literary  so- 
cieties. 

The  requisites  for  admission  into  the  freshman 
class  were  the  ability  to  construe  and  parse  Virgil, 
Cicero's  Select  Orations,  Sallust,  the  Greek  Testa- 
ment, Dalzel's  Collectanea  Graeca  Minora,  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  Latin  and  Greek  Grammars,  and  Vulgar 
Arithmetic. 

Course  of  Study. — First  Year. — Livy,  five  books, 
Adam's  Roman  Antiquities,  Arithmetic,  Webster's 
Philosophical  and  Practical  Grammar,  Graeca  Ma- 
jora,  the  historical  parts,  Day's  Algebra,  Morse's 
Geography,  large  abridgment,  and  Erving  on  Com- 
position. 

Second  Year. — Playfair's  Euclid,  Horace,  expur- 
gated edition,  Day's  Mathematics,  Parts  II.,  III. 
and  IV.,  Conic  Sections  and  Spheric  Geometry, 
Cicero  de  Officiis,  de  Senectute  and  de  Amicitia, 
Graeca  Majora,  Jamieson's  Rhetoric,  and  Hedge's 
Logic. 

Third  Year.— Spheric  Trigonometry,  Graeca  Ma- 
jora finished,  Enfield's  Philosophy,  Cicero  de  Ora- 
tore,  Tacitus,  five  books,  Tytler's  History,  Paley's 

Evidences,  Fluxions  and  Chemistr 

£LSE 

OF  THE 

CVERSITY 


32  A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

Fourth  Year. — Stewart's  Philosophy  of  Mind, 
Blair's  Rhetoric,  Locke  abridged,  Paley's  Natural 
Theology,  Anatomy,  Butler's  Analogy,  Paley's 
Moral  Philosophy,  Edwards  on  the  Will,  Vattel's 
Law  of  Nations,  and  Vincent  on  the  Catechism. 

Each  of  the  classes  had  once  a  week,  for  a  part  of 
the  year,  a  critical  recitation  in  the  Greek  Testa- 
ment. All  the  classes  had  weekly  exercises  in 
speaking  and  composition.  The  library  belonging 
to  the  institution  contained  nine  hundred  volumes, 
and  society  libraries  about  four  hundred  volumes. 
This  catalogue  was  printed  by  Thomas  W.  Shepard 
&  Co.,  Northampton. 

The  annual  catalogue  for  the  second  year, 
printed  by  Denio  &  Phelps,  at  Greenfield,  in  Octo- 
ber, 1822,  was  a  pamphlet  of  twelve  pages,  and  in 
addition  to  the  matter  contained  in  that  of  the  pre- 
vious year,  comprised  the  names  of  the  overseers 
of  the  fund,  a  brief  calendar,  and  a  statement  of  the 
term  bills  and  other  necessary  expenses.  The  over- 
seers of  the  fund,  whose  names  appear  on  the 
catalogue,  are  Henry  Gray,  Esq.,  of  Boston,  Hon. 
Salem  Towne,  Jr.,  of  Charleton,  H.  Wright  Strong, 
Esq.,  of  Amherst,  Rev.  Samuel  Osgood  of  Spring- 
field, Rev.  Theophilus  Packard  of  Shelburne,  Rev. 
Thomas  Snell  of  Brookfield,  and  Rev.  Luther  Shel- 
don of  Easton.  The  faculty  is  the  same  as  in  the 
previous  catalogue,  except  that  the  names  of  Wil- 
liam S.  Burt,  A.B.,  and  Elijah  L.  Coe,  A.B.,  appear 
as  tutors.  They  were  both  graduates  of  Union  Col- 
lege. The  number  of  students  had  now  increased  to 
ninety-eight,  viz:  'senior  sophisters,"  five;  " junior 
sophisters,"  twenty-one;  sophomores,  thirty-two, 


A    HISTORY    OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  33 

and  freshmen,  forty.  The  students'  rooms  are  also 
registered,  N.  standing  for  North  College,  and  S. 
for  South  College,  on  the  catalogue. 

The  term  bills,  comprising  tuition,  and  room  -rent, 
were  from  ten  to  eleven  dollars  a  term.  Beneficiaries 
did  not  pay  any  term  bills.  Board  was  from  one 
dollar  to  one  dollar  twenty-five  cents  a  week, 
wood  from  one  dollar  fifty  cents  to  two  dollars  a 
cord,  and  washing  from  twelve  to  twenty  cents  a 
week.  "Motives  of  economy  and  of  convenience/' 
writes  Dr.  Chapin  of  the  class  of  '26,  "influenced 
the  first  class  of  students  very  largely  in  coming  to 
Amherst.  We  all  made  our  own  fires  and  took  the 
entire  care  of  our  rooms ;  most  of  us  sawed  our  own 
wood.  My  college  course  cost  me  eight  hundred 
dollars,  which  was  a  medium  average,  I  should 
think.  The  college  grounds  were  rough  and  un- 
adorned, and  during  all  of  my  course  had  little  done 
to  improve  them.  Each  spring  we  had  our  *  chip 
day/  when  the  students  in  mass  turned  out  to 
scrape  and  clear  up  the  grounds  near  the  buildings." 

The  two  literary  societies,  the  Alexandrian  and 
the  Athenian,  were  organized  soon  after  the  opening 
of  the  institution.  The  members  of  the  college 
were  all  allotted  to  the  two  societies  in  alphabetical 
order,  the  two  seniors,  Pindar  Field  and  Ebenezer  S. 
Snell,  placing  themselves  or  being  placed  at  the 
head,  the  former  of  the  Athenian  and  the  latter  of 
the  Alexandrian  Society,  and  then  reading  off  the 
names  of  the  members  of  the  lower  classes  alter- 
nately to  the  one  or  the  other  in  the  order  of  the 
catalogue.  Mr.  Field  was  chosen  the  first  president 
of  the  Athenian  Society,  and  Mr.  Snell  the  first 


34  A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

president  of  the  Alexandrian.  The  first  meetings  of 
the  societies  were  held  in  No.  3  and  No.  6  in  the 
north  entry  of  South  College.  In  April,  1822,  the 
students  in  their  poverty  raised  a  small  contribution, 
less  than  $100,  and  sent  Mr.  Field  to  Hartford  to 
purchase  a  few  books  which  were  the  beginning  of 
a  library  for  the  two  societies,  for  they  were  then 
not  rival  but  affiliated  societies  and  had  their  library 
in  common. 

Prof.  Charles  U.  Shepard  of  the  class  of  '25  has 
contributed  the  following  graphic  sketch  of  men  and 
things  at  Amherst  in  those  early  days : 

"  Amherst  as  it  was  then  would  be  a  strange  place 
to  the  residents  in  Amherst  of  nowadays.  The  good 
clergymen  who  petitioned  for  its  prosperity  in 
'college  prayers '  delighted  to  call  it  'a  city  set  upon 
a  hill;'  but  they  would  have  described  its  fashion 
with  quite  as  much  exactness  had  they  put  forward 
its  claims  to  celestial  notice  as  'a  village  in  the 
woods/  Something  more  than  a  score  of  houses, 
widely  separated  from  each  "other  by  prosperous 
farms,  constituted  Amherst  centre.  Along  two  roads, 
running  north  and  south,  were  scattered  small  farm- 
houses, with  here  and  there  a  cross-road,  blacksmith's 
shop,  or  school-house  by  way  of  suburb.  The  East 
Street,  however,  formed  even  then  a  pretty  cluster  of 
houses,  and  had  its  meeting-house  with  a  far  comelier 
tower  than  it  boasts  at  the  present  day. 

"  But  the  fine  dwellings,  public  or  private,  of  that 
early  time  had  their  features,  whether  tasteful  or  the 
reverse,  greatly  concealed  by  the  wide  prevalence  of 
trees.  Primal  forests  touched  the  rear  of  the  college 
buildings;  they  filled  up  with  a  sea  of  waving 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  35 

branches  the  great  interval  between  the  village  and 
Hadley;  toward  the  south  they  prevailed  gloriously, 
sending  their  green  waves  around  the  base  and  tip 
the  sides  of  Mt.  Holyoke ;  to  the  east,  they  overspread 
the  Pelham  slope;  and  they  fairly  inundated  vast 
tracts  northward  clear  away  to  the  lofty  hills  of  Sun- 
derland  and  Deerfield.  It  was  a  sublime  deluge, 
which,  alas!  has  only  too  much  subsided  in  our  day." 

After  some  appreciative  notice  of  the  instructions, 
character,  and  influence  of  Presidents  Moore  and 
Humphrey,  and  the  chemical  and  botanical  lectures 
of  Prof.  Amos  Eaton,  Professor  Shepard  concludes: 
"  Such  were  our  chief  advantages  as  I  now  recollect 
them.  At  the  time  we  rated  them  highly ;  few  left 
Amherst  for  other  colleges.  Nor  do  I  know  that  any 
have  since  regretted  connecting  themselves  with  the 
infant  institution.  There  were  doubtless  deficiencies 
to  be  regretted.  In  the  larger  and  older  universities 
we  might  have  found  better  teachers  and  richer  stores 
of  libraries  and  collections,  but  in  some  unknown 
way,  perhaps  in  the  enthusiasm  of  comparatively 
solitary  effort,  compensation  was  made ;  and,  on  the 
whole,  we  may  doubt  whether  higher  life  success 
would  have  attended  us  had  we  launched  from  other 
ports. " 

The  students  of  Amherst,  in  those  early  days,  were 
comparatively  free  from  exciting  and  distracting  cir- 
cumstances. There  were  then  here  no  cattle-shows 
or  horse-races,  no  menageries,  circuses,  or  even  con- 
certs of  music.  They  had  no  "  Greek  Letter"  socie- 
ties, no  class  day,  and  no  class  elections  and  class 
politics  to  divide  and  distract  them.  They  came 
here  to  study,  and  they  had  nothing  else  to  do.  They 


36  A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

felt  that  their  advantages  were  inferior  to  those  of 
older  and  richer  institutions,  but  for  that  very  rea- 
son they  felt  that  they  must  "make  themselves/' 

The  "  Exercises  at  the  First  Anniversary  of  the 
Collegiate  Charity  Institution  at  Amherst"  were  held 
in  the  old  "meeting-house"  on  the  28th  of  August, 
1822.  After  sacred  music,  and  prayer  by  the  presi- 
dent, a  salutatory  in  Latin  was  pronounced  by  Eben- 
ezer  S.  Snell.  His  classmate,  Pindar  Field,  deliv- 
ered the  concluding  oration  in  English.  There  was 
no  valedictory.  The  members  of  the  junior  class, 
then  six  in  number,  helped  them  to  fill  up  the  pro- 
gram with  a  colloquy,  two  dialogues,  and  several 
orations.  A  poem  was  also  delivered  by  Gerard  H. 
Hallock,  who  was  then  principal  of  Amherst  Acad- 
emy. As  the  institution  had  no  charter,  and  no  au- 
thority to  confer  degrees,  testimonials  in  Latin  that 
they  had  honorably  completed  the  usual  college 
course  were  given  to  the  two  members  of  the  senior 
class.  The  exercises  were  then  closed  with  sacred 
music  and  prayer.  The  subjects  of  the  two  dialogues 
were  "Turkish  Oppression,"  and  "The  Gospel  Car- 
ried to  India."  The  last,  which  was  written  by  Pin- 
dar Field  and  acted  by  the  two  seniors  with  the  help 
of  one  of  the  juniors,  was  an  intentional  argument 
and  appeal  in  favor  of  foreign  and  domestic  missions. 

The  first  revival  of  religion  occurred  in  the  spring 
term  of  1823,  about  a  year  and  a  half  after  the  open- 
ing of  the  institution.  The  number  of  students  was 
now  over  a  hundred.  The  president's  house  was 
completed.  Two  edifices  crowned  the  "  consecrated 
eminence,"  and  a  subscription  of  thirty  thousand 
dollars  was  being  successfully  and  rapidly  raised  to 


A   HISTORY    OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  37 

defray  the  expenses.  The  prosperity  of  the  institu- 
tion exceeded  the  most  sanguine  hopes  of  its  found- 
ers. But  at  this  time  President  Moore  was  suffering 
from  ill-health.  The  amount  of  labor  which  he  had 
been  performing  for  nearly  two  years,  together  with 
the  responsibility  and  anxiety  that  pressed  upon  him, 
was  enough  to  break  down  the  most  vigorous  consti- 
tution. In  addition  to  his  appropriate  duties  as 
president  and  as  chairman  of  the  board  of  trustees, 
he  heard  all  the  recitations  of  the  senior  and  in  part 
those  of  the  sophomore  class,  performed  several  jour- 
neys to  Boston  to  promote  the  interests  of  the  insti- 
tution, and  solicited  in  a  number  of  places  pecuniary 
aid  in  its  behalf.  The  revival,  while  it  gladdened 
his  heart  beyond  measure,  greatly  added  to  his  labors 
and  responsibilities.  His  constitution,  naturally 
strong,  was  overtaxed  by  such  accumulated  labors 
and  anxieties,  and  had  begun  to  give  way  percepti- 
bly before  the  attack  of  disease  which  terminated 
his  life. 

On  Wednesday,  the  25th  of  June,  he  was  seized 
with  a  bilious  colic.  From  the  first,  the  attack  was 
violent,  and  excited  fears  of  a  fatal  termination. 
"  During  his  short  sickness,"  we  quote  the  language 
of  Prof.  B.  B.  Edwards,  a  loving  and  beloved  pupil, 
one  of  the  converts  in  the  recent  revival,  "  the  college 
was  literally  a  place  of  tears.  Prayer  was  offered 
unto  God  unceasingly  for  him.  We  have  never  seen 
more  heartfelt  sorrow  than  was  depicted  in  the 
countenances  of  nearly  a  hundred  young  men,  all  of 
whom  loved  him  as  their  own  father.  But  while 
they  were  filled  with  anxiety  and  grief,  Dr.  Moore 
was  looking  with  calmness  and  joy  upon  the  pros- 


38  A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

pects  which  were  opening  before  him.  While  flesh 
and  heart  were  failing  him,  Christ  was  the  strength 
of  his  heart  and  the  anchor  of  his  soul.  And  when 
his  voice  failed  and  his  eyes  were  closing  in  death, 
he  could  still  whisper,  'God  is  my  hope,  my  shield, 
and  my  exceeding  great  reward.  '  " 

He  died  on  Monday,  the  2pth  of  June,  1823,  in  the 
fifty-third  year  of  his  age.  The  funeral  solemnities 
were  attended  on  the  Wednesday  following,  in  the 
presence  of  a  great  concourse  of  people  from  Amherst 
and  the  surrounding  region.  An  appropriate  sermon 
was  preached  by  Rev.  Dr.  Snell,  of  North  Brookfield. 

"  By  nature  a  great  man,  by  grace  a  good  man,  and 
in  the  providence  of  God  a  useful  man,  a  correct 
thinker  and  a  lucid  writer,  a  sound  theologian,  in- 
structive preacher,  and  greatly  beloved  pastor,  a  wise 
counsellor  and  sympathizing  friend,  a  friend  and  fath- 
er especially  to  all  the  young  men  of  the  infant  col- 
lege in  which  he  was  at  the  same  time  a  winning 
teacher  and  a  firm  presiding  officer,  Dr.  Moore  filled 
every  station  he  occupied  with  propriety  and  raised 
the  reputation  of  every  literary  institution  with  which 
he  became  connected.'1  Such,  in  brief,  is  the  char- 
acter of  the  first  president  of  Amherst  College  as  it 
was  briefly  sketched  in  the  funeral  sermon  by  Dr. 
Snell,  who  knew  him  intimately  both  in  the  pastorate 
and  in  the  presidency,  and  who  was  incapable  of 
exaggeration. 

So  profound  was  the  sympathy  of  the  senior  class 
with  their  beloved  president,  that  they  were  reluc- 
tant to  take  any  part  in  commencement  exercises  at 
which  he  could  not  preside.  And  so  dark,  in  their 
view,  was  the  cloud  which  rested  on  the  infant  semi- 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  39 

nary,  that,  reduced  almost  to  despair,  they  were  on 
the  point  of  closing  their  connection  with  it  .and 
graduating  at  some  other  institution.  Accordingly, 
at  the  close  of  the  funeral  services,  the  class  appeared 
before  the  board  of  trustees,  and  asked  to  be  released 
from  all  participation  in  any  commencement  exer- 
cises, and  from  all  further  connection  with  the  col- 
lege; but,  at  the  urgent  solicitation  of  the  board, 
they  consented  to  stand  in  their  lot.  They  never  re- 
gretted their  perseverance  in  spite  of  all  untoward 
circumstances,  even  to  the  end,  in  consequence  of 
which  they  have  not  only  been  reckoned  as  alumni 
of  Amherst  College,  but  counted  among  its  heroes 
who  stood  by  it  in  the  day  of  adversity,  and  consti- 
tuted its  second  class.  David  O.  Allen,  of  this  class, 
claimed  to  be  the  oldest  graduate  of  Amherst,  having 
received  the  degree  of  A.  B.  the  first  of  any  one,  on 
this  wise :  While  teaching  school  in  Leominster,  in 
the  winter  vacation  of  his  senior  year,  he  applied  for 
the  situation  of  principal  of  Groton  Academy,  then 
a  flourishing  institution,  and  got  the  appointment. 
But  after  obtaining  it,  he  found  that  a  by-law  of  the 
academy  required  the  principal  to  be  a  graduate  of 
a  college.  Amherst,  having  no  charter,  could  at 
this  time  confer  no  degrees.  What  was  to  be  done? 
He  went  to  President  Moore  with  his  trouble.  After 
much  consultation,  President  Moore  gave  him  testi- 
monials to  the  president  of  Union  College.  Mr. 
Allen  went  there  privately,  joined  the  senior  class, 
passed  the  senior  examination,  and  returned  with  a 
diploma  in  his  pocket,  while  as  yet  his  classmates 
were  scarcely  aware  of  his  absence.  After  complet- 
ing his  course  at  Amherst,  he  taught  the  academy 
4 


40  A   HISTORY    OF   AMHERST    COLLEGE. 

at  Groton,  paid  up  his  debts,  earned  money  in  ad- 
vance for  his  theological  education  at  Andover,  and 
afterward  became  one  of  the  most  honored  of  our 
American  missionaries,  and  the  author  of  the  well- 
known  work  on  "Ancient  and  Modern  India." 


OF  THE 

^UNIVERSITY! 


Xf£es 
UNIVERSITY, 


CHAPTER     IV. 

PRESIDENT  HUMPHREY'S  ADMINISTRATION,  FROM  1823 
TO  1825 — STRUGGLE  FOR  THE  CHARTER — LEGISLA- 
TIVE INVESTIGATION — FINAL  SUCCESS SEAL  OF  THE 

COLLEGE. 

IN  July,  1823,  Rev.  Heman  Humphrey  was  chosen 
to  the  presidency.  His  ministry  of  ten  years  in 
Fairfield,  Connecticut,  had  been  eminently  useful 
and  successful.  He  had  now  been  nearly  six  years 
pastor  of  the  church  in  Pittsfield,  Massachusetts.  His 
labors  in  both  these  places  had  been  blessed  with  re- 
vivals of  religion  of  great  power.  He  was  already 
recognized  as  a  pioneer  and  leader  in  the  cause  of 
temperance.  He  was  a  zealous  champion  of  ortho- 
doxy, evangelical  religion,  Christian  missions,  and 
of  all  the  distinctive  principles  of  the  founders  of 
Amherst  College.  In  recognition  of  his  high  stand- 
ing as  an  able  divine  and  an  efficient  pastor  he  had 
just  received  the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of 
Divinity  from  Middlebury  College.  Although  a 
Berkshire  pastor,  and  a  trustee  of  Williams  College, 
he  felt  the  force  of  the  reasons  for  its  removal,  and 
when  that  plan  was  defeated  by  the  action  of  the 
Legislature,  he  could  not  but  sympathize  with  the 
high  purpose  and  auspicious  beginning  of  the  insti- 
tution at  Amherst. 

On  the  i5th  of  October,  1823,  Dr.  Humphrey  was 
inducted  into  the  presidency.  It  marks  a  character- 
istic of  the  institution,  perhaps  also  of  the  age,  that  a 

41 


42  A    HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

sermon  was  preached  on  the  occasion.  The  preacher 
was  Rev.  Richard  Salter  Storrs,  of  Braintree,  Massa- 
chusetts. "  It  was  a  discourse  of  scope,  adaptation, 
eloquence,  and  power ;  in  all  respects  of  such  engross- 
ing interest  as  to  make  it  no  easy  task  for  the 
speaker  who  should  come  after  him.  The  wise 
sophomores  entertained  serious  doubts  whether  the 
president  could  sustain  himself  in  his  inaugural. 
But  this  feeling  soon  subsided,  and  we  were  relieved 
of  all  our  sophomoric  fears  and  anxieties,  as  the  presi- 
dent-elect, with  a  master's  hand,  opened  the  great 
subject  of  education — education  physical,  mental,  and 
moral,  holding  his  audience  in  unbroken  stillness  for 
perhaps  an  hour  and  a  half.  If  we  were  captivated 
by  the  eloquent  preacher,  we  were  not  less  impressed 
with  the  teachings  and  philosophy  of  the  man  who 
was  to  guide  our  feet  in  the  paths  of  literature, 
science,  and  heavenly  wisdom.  That  discourse  estab- 
lished in  our  minds  his  fitness  for  the  position ;  at 
once  he  seized  upon  our  confidence  and  esteem. "  1 

Cool  and  impartial  criticism,  after  the  lapse  of 
almost  half  a  century,  can  but  justify  the  admira- 
tion which  President  Humphrey's  inaugural  inspired 
in  the  minds  of  those  who  heard  it.  Perhaps  nothing 
has  ever  proceeded  from  his  pen  which  illustrates 
more  perfectly  the  strong  common  sense,  the  prac- 
tical wisdom,  the  sharp  and  clear  Saxon  style,  the 
vigor  of  thought,  fervor  of  passion  and  boldness, 
coupled  sometimes  with  marvellous  felicity  of  expres- 
sion, and  the  healthy,  hearty,  robust  tone  of  body, 

1  Manuscript  letter  of  Hon.  Lincoln  Clark,  of  the  class  of 
'25. 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  43 

soul,  and  spirit,    which  the  Christian  public  for  so 
many  years  admired  and  loved  in  Dr.  Humphrey.1 

The  number  of  students  at  the  time  of  Dr.  Hum- 
phrey's accession  to  the  presidency  was  nineteen 
seniors,  twenty-nine  juniors,  forty-one  sophomores, 
and  thirty-seven  freshmen — total,  one  hundred  and 
twenty-six,  of  whom,  we  learn  from  the  cover  of  the 
inaugural  address,  ninety-eight  were  hopefully  pious. 
The  faculty,  at  the  commencement  of  the  new  ad- 
ministration, consisted  of  the  same  persons  who  were 
thus  associated  with  President  Moore,  with  the  addi- 
tion of  Samuel  M.  Worcester  as  tutor.  On  the  cata- 
logue of  the  next  year,  published  in  November,  1824, 
we  find  the  name  of  Rev.  Nathan  W.  Fiske  in  place 
of  Joseph  Estabrook,  as  professor  of  the  Latin  and 
Greek  languages;  Samuel  M.  Worcester,  teacher  of 
languages  and  librarian ;  and  Jacob  Abbott,  tutor — 
all  names  familiar  afterwards  as  professors  under  the 
charter.  The  new  president  seems  to  have  made  no 
change  in  the  studies  of  the  senior  class,  except  that 
Locke  disappears  from  the  list  and  Vincent's  Cate- 
chism is  definitely  announced  for  every  Saturday — a 
place  which  it  continued  to  occupy  through  Dr. 
Humphrey's  entire  presidency.  Instruction  was  also 
offered  in  the  Hebrew,  French  and  German  lan- 
guages, to  such  as  wished  it,  for  a  reasonable  com- 
pensation. The  president  was  still  the  sole  teacher 
of  the  senior  class.  He  instructed  them  in  rhetoric, 
logic,  natural  theology,  the  evidences  of  Chris- 

1  The  writer  will  be  pardoned  for  adding  that  he  has  a 
special  and  personal  reason  for  an  affectionate  remembrance 
of  this  inaugural,  since  it  was  the  reading  of  it  in  a  distant 
state  that  brought  him  to  Amherst  College. 


44  A    HISTORY    OF   AMHERST    COLLEGE. 

tianity,  intellectual  and  moral  philosophy,  and  polit- 
ical economy.  He  also  presided  at  the  weekly  dec- 
lamations in  the  chapel,  and  criticised  the  composi- 
tions of  one  or  more  of  the  classes.  He  preached  on 
the  Sabbath,  occasionally,  in  the  village  church  so 
long  as  the  students  worshipped  there;  and  when  a 
separate  organization  was  deemed  advisable,  he  be- 
came the  pastor  of  the  college  church  and  preached 
every  Sabbath  to  the  congregation.  He  also  sus- 
tained— from  the  first,  I  believe— a  weekly  religious 
lecture  on  Thursday  evenings.  He  early  drew  up 
the  first  code  of  written  and  printed  "  Laws  of  the 
Collegiate  Charity  Institution, "the  original  of  which 
is  still  preserved  in  his  own  handwriting,  and  labored 
to  introduce  more  perfect  order  and  system  into  the 
still  imperfectly  organized  seminary.  At  the  same 
time  he  was  compelled  to  take  the  lead  in  a  per- 
petual struggle  for  raising  funds  and  obtaining  a 
charter. 

Under  such  circumstances  it  is  not  surprising  that 
Dr.  Humphrey  did  not  at  once  command  the  highest 
respect  and  veneration  of  the  students  in  the  chair  of 
instruction.  Accustomed  to  love  and  almost  worship 
his  predecessor,  they  very  naturally  drew  compari- 
sons to  his  disadvantage.  Dr.  Moore  had  been  a 
teacher  for  the  larger  part  of  his  life.  Dr.  Hum- 
phrey had  no  experience  in  the  government  or  the 
instruction  of  a  college.  His  strength  at  this  time 
was  in  the  pulpit  and  the  pastoral  office.  The  stu- 
dents also  contrasted  his  plain  manners,  his  distance 
and  reserve,  with  the  courtly  air  and  winning  address 
of  his  predecessor.  Hence,  while  he  enjoyed  their 
respect  as  a  man,  their  confidence  as  a  Christian,  and 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  4$ 

their  admiration  as  an  eloquent  preacher,  as  a  teacher 
and  a  president  he  was  not  popular  with  his  earlier 
classes. 

A  joke  perpetrated  about  this  time  has  taken  its 
place  as  a  classic  among  the  most  famous  of  Amherst 
stories,  and  deserves  to  be  narrated  here,  not  only  as 
illustrative  of  Dr.  Humphrey's  character  and  admin- 
istration, but  because  it  proved  a  turning-point  in 
his  reputation.  The  story  cannot  be  better  told  than 
in  his  own  words :  "  One  morning  as  I  came  into 
prayers,  I  found  the  chair  preoccupied  by  a  goose. 
She  looked  rather  shabby  to  be  sure,  nevertheless  it 
was  a  veritable  goose.  Strange  as  it  may  seem,  she 
did  not  salute  me  with  so  much  as  a  hiss  for  my  un- 
ceremonious intrusion.  It  might  be  because  I  did 
not  offer  to  take  the  chair.  As  anybody  might  ven- 
ture to  stand  a  few  moments,  even  in  such  a  presence, 
I  carefully  drew  the  chair  up  behind  me  as  close  as 
I  safely  could,  went  through  the  exercises,  and  the 
students  retired  in  the  usual  orderly  manner,  not 
more  than  two  or  three,  I  believe,  having  noticed 
anything  uncommon.  In  the  course  of  the  day  it 
was  reported,  and  as  soon  as  they  found  out  what  had 
happened,  they  were  highly  excited  and  proposed 
calling  a  college  meeting  to  express  their  indigna- 
tion that  such  an  insult  had  been  offered  by  one  of 
their  number.  The  hour  of  evening  prayers  came, 
and  at  the  close  of  the  usual  exercises  I  asked  the 
young  gentlemen  to  be  seated  a  moment.  I  then 
stated  what  I  had  heard;  and  thanked  them  for  the 
kind  interest  they  had  taken  in  the  matter,  told  them 
it  was  just  what  I  should  expect  from  gentlemen  of 
such  high  and  honorable  feelings,  but  begged  them 


46  A   HISTORY   OF  AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

not  to  give  themselves  the  least  trouble  in  the  prem- 
ises. 'You  know/  I  said,  'that  the  trustees  have  just 
been  here  to  organize  a  college  faculty.  Their  in- 
tention was  to  provide  competent  instructors  in  all 
the  departments,  so  as  to  meet  the  capacity  of  every 
student.  But  it  seems  that  one  student  was  over- 
looked, and  I  am  sure  they  will  be  glad  to  learn  that 
he  has  promptly  supplied  the  deficiency  by  choosing 
a  goose  for  his  tutor.  Par  nobile  fratrum.'  "  The 
effect  may  well  be  imagined. 

Rev.  T.  R.  Cressey,  of  the  class  of  1828,  writes: 
44  The  president's  'Par  nobile  fratrum, '  with  its  accom- 
panying bow  of  dismissal,  was  instantly  followed  by 
a  round  of  applause.  And  such  shouts  of  derision  as 
the  boys  raised  while  they  went  down  those  three 
flights  of  stairs,  crying,  *  Who  is  brother  to  the  goose?' 
'Who  is  brother  to  the  goose?'  The  question  was 
never  answered.  But  from  that  hour  presidential 
stock  went  up  to  a  high  figure,  and  never  descended 
while  I  had  any  personal  acquaintance  with  Amherst 
College." 

We  must  now  go  back  a  little,  and  trace  the  efforts 
to  obtain  a  charter  from  their  beginning.  The  first 
application  to  the  Legislature  of  Massachusetts  for 
a  charter  was  made  in  the  winter  session  of  1823. 
The  petition  of  President  Moore  was  referred  to  a 
joint  committee  of  the  two  houses  on  the  i7th  and 
i8th  of  January.  On  the  25th  of  January  the  com- 
mittee reported  that  the  petition  be  referred  to 
the  next  General  Court.  But  so  far  from  being  re- 
ferred with  the  usual  courtesy,  the  report  was  not 
accepted,  and  the  petition  was  unceremoniously 
rejected  by  both  houses,  nearly  all  the  members 


A   HISTORY    OF  AMHERST   COLLEGE.  47 

voting  against  it,  including  the  representative  from 
Amherst.1 

Such  uncourteous  and  unreasonable  opposition  only 
increased  the  number  and  zeal  of  the  friends  of  the 
college.  Nothing  daunted,  they  resolved  to  renew 
their  application  for  a  charter  at  the  very  next  ses- 
sion. Accordingly  in  June,  1823,  a  petition  was 
presented  by  Rev.  Dr.  Moore,  Hon.  John  Hooker 
and  others  of  the  trustees  of  Amherst  Academy, 
requesting  that  they  might  be  invested  with  such 
corporate  powers  as  are  usually  given  to  the  trustees 
of  colleges. 

At  the  same  session  of  the  Legislature  a  memorial 
was  presented  from  the  subscribers  of  the  charity 
fund,  praying  that  the  request  of  the  trustees  to  be 
invested  with  corporate  powers  might  be  granted. 
The  petition  and  memorial  were  referred  to  a  joint 
committee  from  both  houses  of  the  Legislature.  Of 
this  committee,  consisting  of  seven  members,  six 
agreed  in  a  report  in  favor  of  the  petitioners  having 
leave  to  bring  in  a  bill. 

After  listening  to  remarks  by  the  chairman  of  the 
joint  committee  in  favor  of  their  report,  without 
further  discussion,  the  Senate  voted  on  Monday,  June 
9th,  to  refer  the  consideration  of  the  report  to  the 

1  An  old  feud  between  the  East  and  West  Parishes,  originat- 
ing in  party  politics  and  personal  animosities,  extended  its 
influence  to  the  college.  The  Amherst  representative  in  the 
winter  session  of  1823  was  a  member  of  the  East  Parish,  and 
a  "  Democrat. "  The  next  two  years  the  town  was  represented 
by  a  member  of  the  West  Parish,  who  voted  for  the  charter. 
In  this  quarrel  the  East  Street  was  familiarly  called  "Sodom," 
and  the  West  "  Mount  Zion. " 


48  A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

next  session  of  the  same  General  Court,1  and  on 
Tuesday  the  loth,  the  House  of  Representatives 
concurred  with  the  Senate  in  so  referring  it.  Just 
fifteen  days  after,  President  Moore  sickened,  and, 
after  an  illness  of  only  four  days,  died,  his  death  be- 
ing hastened,  no  doubt,  if  not  caused,  by  repeated 
disappointments  and  delays  in  the  incorporation  of 
the  college,  and  his  toils  and  cares  now  devolved  on 
his  successor. 

On  Wednesday,  the  2ist  of  January,  1824,  accord- 
ing to  the  vote  of  reference  passed  at  the  summer 
session,  the  report  of  the  joint  committee  in  favor 
of  granting  a  charter  came  up  in  the  Senate,  and  it 
was  debated  during  the  greater  part  of  three  days  by 
twelve  of  the  ablest  members.  The  longest  and  one 
of  the  ablest  speeches  in  behalf  of  the  college  was 
made  by  Hon.  Samuel  Hubbard,  of  Boston.  He  said 
that  the  objections  against  the  charter,  so  far  as  he 
had  learned,  were  four,  all  founded  on  local  or  petty 
considerations :  First,  that  another  college  was  not 
needed.  Second,  that  Williams  College  would  be 
injured.  Third,  that  it  was  inexpedient  to  multiply 
colleges.  Fourth,  that  the  petitioners  would  ask 
for  money.  In  answer  to  the  first  objection,  he  ar- 
gued that  there  was  a  great  want  of  men  of  educa- 
tion and  piety  and  morals ;  and  that  this  want  was 
felt  by  the  good  people  of  the  Commonwealth,  as 
proved  by  their  voluntary  contributions  to  the  insti- 
tution at  Amherst.  "  There  is  seldom  an  instance 
of  a  college  being  founded  like  this,  by  the  voluntary 

1  At  this  time,  the  Massachusetts  Legislature  held  two  an- 
nual sessions,  the  summer  session  commencing  in  May,  and 
the  winter  session  commencing  in  January. 


UNIVERSITY) 

V  OF 

A   HISTORY    OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  49 

contributions  of  thousands.  Out  of  the  fifty  colleges 
in  England,  there  is  not  one  but  what  was  founded 
by  an  individual,  except  Christ  College,  in  Oxford." 
In  answer  to  the  second  objection,  he  pointed  to  the 
fact  that  the  number  of  students  at  Williams  College 
had  increased  from  an  average  of  sixty  or  seventy  to 
one  hundred  and  eighteen,  and  that  of  Amherst  be- 
ing one  hundred  and  twenty-six,  the  two  institutions 
contained  more  than  three  times  the  previous  average 
at  Williams.  In  reply  to  the  third  objection,  he  in- 
sisted, as  many  other  senators  did,  that  small  colleges 
are  better  than  large  ones,  and  two  hundred  students 
can  be  governed  and  instructed  much  better  than  four 
hundred.  In  answer  to  the  fourth  objection,  several 
preceding  speakers  had  argued  that  granting  the 
charter  did  not  involve  the  necessity  or  the  duty  of 
giving  money ;  but  Mr.  Hubbard  said,  "  What  if  it 
does?  Such  grants  do  not  impoverish  the  state. 
The  liberal  grants  which  have  been  made  to  Harvard 
and  Williams  are  the  highest  honor  of  the  state, 
and  have  redounded  to  the  good  of  the  people." 

Meeting  boldly  and  on  high  ground  the  prejudice 
against  Amherst  as  an  orthodox  institution,  Mr. 
Hubbard  declared  that  "  all  that  is  great  and  good 
in  our  land  sprang  from  orthodoxy.  This  spirit  of 
orthodoxy  animated  the  Pilgrims  whom  we  delight 
to  honor  as  our  forefathers.  It  has  founded  all  our 
colleges  and  is  founded  on  a  rock." 

More  than  one  of  the  speakers  reminded  the  Senate 
that  Amherst  represented  not  only  the  orthodoxy,  but 
the  yeomanry  of  Massachusetts,  and  they  must  be 
prepared  to  give  an  account  of  their  votes  to  the  mass 
of  the  people.  "If  we  refuse  a  charter,"  said  Hon. 


50  A   HISTORY   OF  AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

Mr.  Fiske,  "  how  are  we  when  we  leave  this  hall, 
how  are  we  to  face  the  mass  of  population  who  are 
interested  in  this  college?  They  will  say,  'You  in- 
corporate theaters,  you  incorporate  hotels,  you  have 
incorporated  a  riding-school.  Are  you  more  accom- 
modating to  such  institutions  than  to  those  which  are 
designed  to  promote  the  great  interests  of  literature, 
science,  and  religion?'  " 

"By  refusing  a  charter,"  said  Hon.  Mr.  Leland, 
"  the  great  body  of  country  citizens  are  wantonly  de- 
prived of  the  privilege  of  a  college.  Something 
more  than  the  feelings  of  orthodoxy  will  be  awak- 
ened. The  people  will  feel  that  there  is  a  disposition 
on  the  part  of  Government  to  maintain  an  aristocratic 
monopoly.  And  rely  upon  it,  your  next  election  will 
bring  persons  here  who  will  acknowledge  the  rights 
of  the  people. " 

The  vote  was  at  length  taken,  on  Friday,  January 
23d,  and  the  question  being  on  the  acceptance  of  the 
report,  giving  leave  to  bring  in  a  bill,  twenty-two 
out  of  thirty-seven  voted  in  the  affirmative. 

On  Tuesday,  January  27th,  the  subject  was  taken 
up  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  debated 
with  much  earnestness  on  that  and  the  three  follow- 
ing days  and  then  postponed  till  the  next  week.  On 
Tuesday,  February  3d,  it  was  resumed,  and  further 
discussed,  and  the  question  being  taken  on  concur- 
ring with  the  Senate,  it  was  decided  in  the  negative 
by  a  majority  of  nineteen  votes  out  of  one  hundred 
and  ninety-nine. 

"So,  "said  the  editor  of  the  "Boston  Telegraph" 
(Gerard  Hallock),  "  the  House  declined  to  incorporate 
the  college.  Although  the  result  is  not  such  as  the 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  $1 

numerous  friends  of  the  college  could  have  wished, 
it  is  certainly  no  discouraging  circumstance  that  so 
great  a  change  has  taken  place  in  the  views  of  the 
Legislature  on  the  subject,  and  especially  in  the  views 
of  the  community.  Let  the  same  spirit  go  on  for  a 
few  months  longer,  and  the  institution  at  Amherst 
will  be,  what  it  doubtless  ought  to  be,  a  chartered 
college/' 

Grieved,  but  not  disheartened  by  this  result,  the 
guardians  and  friends  of  the  college  resolved  to  renew 
the  application  and  began  at  once  the  preparations 
for  a  third  campaign.  The  first  campaign  document 
was  an  announcement  of  their  intention  to  apply 
again  to  the  Legislature  for  a  charter,  together  with 
a  concise  statement  of  the  reasons  why  such  a  peti- 
tion ought  to  be  granted.  This  document,  signed  by 
President  Humphrey,  and  bearing  date  March  12, 
1824,  was  published  in  more  than  thirty  newspapers 
in  all  parts  of  the  Commonwealth.  And  such  was 
the  sympathy  manifested  by  the  press,  and  such  also 
the  increase  in  the  number  of  students,  that  a  con- 
undrum, started  by  the  "  Greenfield  Gazette,"  went 
the  rounds  of  the  newspapers :  "  Why  are  the  friends 
of  Amherst  College  like  the  Hebrews  in  Egypt? 
Because  the  more  they  are  oppressed,  the  more  they 
multiply  and  prosper." 

The  petition  of  the  trustees  was  backed  by  a  peti- 
tion of  the  founders  and  proprietors  which  was 
signed  by  about  four-fifths  of  the  subscribers  to  the 
charity  fund.  And  these  were  further  supported  by 
more  than  thirty  petitions  from  as  many  different 
towns,  and  signed  by  more  than  five  hundred  sub- 
scribers to  other  funds.  In  the  Senate,  the  petition 


52  A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST    COLLEGE. 

was  promptly  referred  to  a  committee  of  three,  to  be 
joined  by  the  House.  In  the  House  an  attempt  was 
made  to  prevent  even  a  reference.  But  after  con- 
siderable discussion  this  was  almost  unanimously 
voted  down,  and  a  committee  of  four  members  was 
joined  to  that  already  appointed  by  the  Senate,  and 
all  the  petitions,  together  with  a  remonstrance  from 
Williams  College,  were  referred  to  this  joint  com- 
mittee. 

On  Monday,  May  3ist,  President  Humphrey  ap- 
peared before  the  joint  committee,  and,  in  the  pres- 
ence of  a  crowd  of  spectators,  pleaded  the  cause  of 
the  petitioners  in  a  speech  which  was  as  entertaining 
as  it  was  unanswerable,  and  which  Hon.  Lewis 
Strong,  of  Northampton,  a  competent  and  impartial 
judge,  pronounced  to  be  probably  the  ablest  speech 
which  was  made  in  the  State  House  during  that  ses- 
sion of  the  Legislature.  On  the  following  day, 
after  an  examination  of  witnesses,  Homer  Bartlett, 
Esq.,  of  Williamstown,  appeared  on  the  part  of  the 
opposition  and  spoke  against  the  incorporation,  and 
was  followed  by  Hon.  Mr.  Davis,  solicitor-general 
of  the  State,  in  an  able  and  eloquent  plea  in  favor  of 
granting  the  charter.  On  Thursday,  the  committee 
reported  that  the  petitioners  have  leave  to  bring  in  a 
bill.  This  report  was  brought  before  the  Senate  the 
same  day,  and  accepted  without  any  opposition.  On 
Friday,  the  subject  was  taken  up  in  the  House,  and, 
after  considerable  debate,  assigned  to  eleven  o'clock 
on  Tuesday  of  the  ensuing  week.  Thus  the  consid- 
eration of  the  matter  was  put  off  to  within  five  days 
of  the  close  of  the  session.  When  it  came  up  again 
on  Tuesday,  a  desperate  effort  was  made  to  secure 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST    COLLEGE.  53 

first  an  indefinite  postponement,  and  then  a  reference 
to  the  next  session.  Both  these  motions  having  been 
negatived  by  a  large  majority,  the  House  adjourned 
to  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  when  an  animated 
and  earnest  discussion  ensued,  which  continued  till 
a  late  hour  in  the  evening,  and  was  resumed  at  nine 
o'clock  the  next  morning.1  "It  was  strenuously 
argued  in  opposition,  chiefly  by  members  from  Berk- 
shire and  our  own  neighborhood,  that  a  third  college 
was  not  wanted  in  Massachusetts;  that  according  to 
our  own  showing,  we  had  not  funds  to  sustain  a  col- 
lege; that  nothing  like  the  amount  presented  on 
paper  would  ever  be  realized;  and  that  there  was 
reason  to  believe  that  many  of  the  subscriptions  had 
been  obtained  by  false  representations."  3 

Under  the  influence  of  such  suggestions  a  resolu- 
tion was  brought  forward  to  refer  the  report  of  the 
joint  committee,  and  all  the  papers  relating  to  the 
subject,  to  a  committee  of  five  members  with  power 
to  send  for  persons  and  papers,  to  sit  at  such  time 
and  place  as  they  should  deem  expedient,  and  to  in- 
quire in  substance,  first,  what  reliable  funds  the  in- 
stitution had ;  second,  what  means  had  been  resorted 
to  by  the  petitioners,  or  by  persons  acting  in  their 
behalf,  to  procure  subscriptions,  and,  third,  what 

1  One  of  the  ablest  advocates  of  the  claims  of  the  college,  in 
this  debate,  was  Bradford  Sumner,  Esq.,  of  Boston,  who  was, 
I  believe,  a  partner  of  Judge  Hubbard,  in  the  law.     On  the 
other  side,  Rev.  Mr.  Mason,  of  Northfield,  a  rum -selling  and 
pugnacious  Unitarian  minister,  read  a  speech  an  hour  long, 
which  was  full  of  scorn  about  "orthodoxy,"  "hopeful  piety," 
and  "evangelizing  the  world." 

2  Dr.  Humphrey's  Historical  Sketches. 


54  A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

methods  had  been  adopted  to  obtain  students;  this 
committee  to  report  to  the  House  at  its  next  session. 
After  a  warm  discussion  which  lasted  for  three  days, 
and  when  nearly  sixty  of  the  members  had  already 
gone  to  their  homes,  on  the  loth  of  June,  1824,  this 
resolution  was  adopted  by  a  vote  of  one  hundred  and 
nine  to  eighty-nine,  and  the  committee  of  investi- 
gation was  appointed. 

The  committee,  nominated  by  the  chair,  "  were  all 
intelligent,  fair-minded  men,  but  not  one  of  them 
sympathized  with  us  in  our  well-known  orthodox  re- 
ligious opinions.  This,  we  thought,  might,  uninten- 
tionally on  their  part,  operate  against  us.  But  in 
the  end  it  proved  for  our  advantage. "  l 

The  investigating  committee  having  given  notice 
that  they  would  meet  at  Boltwood's  Hotel  in  Am- 
herst,  on  Monday,  the  4th  of  October,  that  was  to  be 
the  scene  of  the  next  act  in  the  drama,  and  this  part 
of  the  story  can  not  be  better  told  than  in  the  lan- 
guage of  Dr.  Humphrey,  who  was  the  chief  actor 
in  it. 

"  Rarely  has  there  been  a  more  thorough  and 
searching  investigation.  All  our  books  and  papers 
were  brought  out  and  laid  upon  the  table.  Nothing 
was  withheld.  Every  subscription,  note,  and  obliga- 
tion was  carefully  examined,  and  hardly  anything 
passed  without  being  protested  by  the  able  counsel 
against  us.  Colonel  Graves,  our  principal  agent 
in  obtaining  the  subscriptions,  was  present  and  close- 
ly questioned.  A  lawyer  who  had  been  employed 
to  look  up  testimony  against  us  was  there  with  the 
affidavits  which  he  had  industriously  collected,  and, 

1  Dr.  Humphrey's  Historical  Sketches. 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  55 

at  his  request,  a  large  number  of  subpoenas  were  sent 
out  to  bring  in  dissatisfied  subscribers.  The  trial 
lasted  a  fortnight.  The  room  was  crowded  from  day 
to  day  with  anxious  listeners.  Were  we  to  live  or 
die?  Were  we  to  have  a  charter,  or  to  be  forever 
shut  out  from  the  sisterhood  of  colleges?  That  was 
the  question,  and  it  caused  many  sleepless  nights  in 
Amherst.  Whatever  might  be  the  result,  we  cheer- 
fully acknowledged  that  the  committee  had  con- 
ducted the  investigation  with  exemplary  patience 
and  perfect  fairness.  When  the  papers  were  all  dis- 
posed of,  the  case  was  ably  summed  up  by  the  coun- 
sel, and  the  committee  adjourned. 

"  Many  incidents  occurred  in  the  progress  of  the 
investigation  which  kept  up  the  interest,  and  some 
of  which  were  very  amusing,  but  I  have  room  for 
only  two.  Among  our  subscriptions  there  was  a  very 
long  list,  amounting  to  several  hundred  dollars,  of 
sums  under  one  dollar,  and  not  a  few  of  these  by 
females  and  children  under  age.  On  these,  it  was 
obvious  at  a  glance,  there  might  be  very  considerable 
loss.  This  advantage  against  us  could  not  escape 
gentlemen  so  astute  as  our  learned  opponents.  It 
was  reported,  and  I  believe  it  was  true,  that  they  sat 
up  nearly  all  night  drawing  off  names  and  figuring, 
so  as  to  be  ready  for  the  morning.  Getting  an  ink- 
ling of  what  they  were  about,  three  of  our  trustees 
drew  up  an  obligation,  assuming  the  whole  amount, 
whatever  it  might  be,  and  had  it  in  readiness  to  meet 
the  expected  report.1  The  morning  came;  the  ses- 

1 A  copy  of  this  obligation  is  still  preserved.  The  names 
of  the  trustees  affixed  are  J.  E.  Trask,  Nathaniel  Smith,  and 
John  Fiske. 


56  A    HISTORY    OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

sion  was  opened;  the  parties  were  present;  the 
gentlemen  who  had  taken  so  much  pains  to  astound 
the  committee  by  their  discovery  were  just  about 
laying  it  on  the  table,  when  the  obligation  assuming 
the  whole  amount  was  laid  on  the  table  by  one  of  the 
subscribers.  I  leave  the  reader  to  imagine  the  scene 
of  disappointment  on  the  one  side  and  of  suppressed 
cheering  on  the  other.  It  turned  out  to  be  a  fair 
money  operation  in  our  favor. 

"  The  other  incident  was  still  more  amusing. 
When  the  notes  came  up  to  pass  the  ordeal  of  in- 
quiry and  protest,  one  of  a  hundred  dollars  was  pro- 
duced from  a  gentleman  in  Danvers.  'Who  is  this 
Mr.  P.?'  demanded  one  of  the  lawyers.  'Who 
knows  anything  about  his  responsibility?'  'Will 
you  let  me  look  at  that  note,  sir?'  said  Mr.  S.  V.  S. 
Wilder,  one  of  our  trustees.  After  looking  at  it  for 
a  moment,  taking  a  package  of  bank-bills  from  his 
pocket  he  said:  'Mr.  Chairman,  I  will  cash  that 
note,'  and  laid  down  the  money.  It  was  not  long 
before  another  note  was  protested  in  the  same  way. 
'Let  me  look  at  it,'  said  Mr.  Wilder.  'I  will  cash  it, 
sir, '  and  he  laid  another  bank-bill  upon  the  table. 
By  and  by  a  third  note  was  objected  to.  'I  will  cash 
it,  sir, '  said  Mr.  Wilder,  and  was  handing  over  the 
money  when  the  chairman  interposed:  'Sir,  we  did 
not  come  here  to  raise  money  for  Amherst  College, ' 
and  declined  receiving  it.  How  long  Mr.  Wilder' s 
package  would  have  held  out  I  do  not  know,  but  the 
scene  produced  a  lively  sensation  all  around  the 
board,  and  very  few  protests  were  offered  afterwards. 

"The  appointment  of  this  commission  proved  a 
real  windfall  to  the  institution.  It  gave  the  trus- 


A   HISTORY   OF  AMHERST   COLLEGE.  57 

tees  opportunity  publicly  to  vindicate  themselves 
against  the  aspersions  which  had  been  industriously 
cast  upon  them,  and  it  constrained  them  to  place 
the  charity  fund  on  a  sure  foundation.  The  in- 
vestigation, to  be  sure,  cost  us  some  time  and  trouble, 
but  it  was  worth  more  to  us  than  a  new  subscription 
of  ten  thousand  dollars."  l 

On  the  8th  of  January,  1825,  the  question  was 
called  up  in  the  House,  and  the  report  of  the  inves- 
tigating committee  was  presented  and  read.  After 
reporting  the  results  of  their  investigations  in  the 
matters  of  fact  referred  to  them,  wherein  they  for  the 
most  part  exonerate  the  trustees,  officers,  and  agents  of 
the  institution  of  the  charges  against  them,  the  com- 
mittee said  in  conclusion  :  "  The  refusal  of  the  Leg- 
islature to  grant  a  college  charter  to  Amherst  will 
not,  it  is  believed,  prevent  its  progress.  Whenever 
there  is  an  opinion  in  the  community  that  any  portion 
of  citizens  are  persecuted  (whether  this  opinion  is 
well  or  ill  grounded)  the  public  sympathies  are  di- 
rected to  them  ;  and  instead  of  sinking  under  opposi- 
tion they  almost  invariably  flourish  and  gain  new 
strength  from  opposition.  Your  committee  are 
therefore  of  opinion  that  any  further  delay  to  the  in- 
corporation of  the  Amherst  institution  would  very 
much  increase  the  excitement  which  exists  in  the  com- 
munity on  this  subject,  and  have  a  tendency  to  in- 
terrupt those  harmonious  feelings  which  now  prevail 
and  prevent  that  union  of  action  so  essential  to  the 
just  influence  of  the  State." 

1  In  these  quotations  from  Dr.  Humphrey,  I  have  followed  in- 
discriminately his  Historical  Sketches  and  his  address  in  1853, 
according  as  the  one  or  the  other  was  the  more  full  and  graphic. 


UNIVERSITY 


58  A    HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

After  repeated  consideration  and  adjournment, 
with  protracted  and  earnest  debate  day  after  day  in 
the  House,  the  question  of  accepting  the  report  of  the 
committee  and  giving  leave  to  bring  in  a  bill  was  at 
length  brought  to  a  vote  on  the  28th  of  January,  and 
the  yeas  and  nays  being  ordered,  it  was  decided  in 
the  affirmative  by  a  vote  of  one  hundred  and  fourteen 
to  ninety-five.  The  next  day,  January  29th,  the 
Senate  concurred  with  the  House.  And  on  the  2ist 
of  February,  1825,  the  bill,  having  been  variously 
amended,  passed  to  be  enacted  in  both  branches  of 
the  Legislature,  and  having  received  the  signature 
of  the  lieutenant-governor,  Marcus  Morton,  on  the 
same  day,  became  a  law.  Thus,  after  a  delay  of 
three  years  and  a  half  from  the  opening,  and  a  strug- 
gle of  more  than  two  years  from  the  time  of  the  first 
petition,  the  institution  at  Amh erst  received  a  charter 
and  was  admitted  to  a  name  as  well  as  a  place  among 
the  colleges  of  Massachusetts. 

The  charter  conferred  upon  the  corporation  the 
rights  and  privileges  usually  granted  to  the  trustees 
of  such  institutions.  Two  or  three  provisions  only 
were  peculiar,  and  as  such  worthy  of  notice.  The 
charter  provides  that  the  number  of  trustees  shall 
never  be  greater  than  seventeen,  and  that  the  five 
vacancies  which  shall  first  happen  in  the  board  shall 
be  filled  as  they  occur  by  the  joint  ballots  of  the 
Legislature  in  convention  of  both  houses ;  and  when- 
ever any  person  so  chosen  by  the  Legislature  shall 
cease  to  be  a  member  of  the  corporation,  his  place 
shall  be  filled  in  like  manner,  and  so  on  forever. 
This  provision,  quite  unprecedented  in  the  history  of 
Massachusetts  charters,  was  not  in  the  bill  as  first 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  59 

reported,  but  was  introduced  as  an  amendment  in  the 
course  of  the  discussion.  It  was  as  illiberal  as  it 
was  unprecedented.  It  should  be  remembered,  how- 
ever, to  the  credit  of  subsequent  Legislatures,  that 
they  usually  appointed  to  such  vacancies  according  to 
the  nomination  or  the  known  wishes  of  the  corpora- 
tion, and  in  no  instance  filled  them  with  persons  ob- 
noxious to  the  faculty  and  friends  of  the  institution, 
and  in  1874,  the  Legislature  passed  an  act  provid- 
ing that  the  five  trustees  heretofore  chosen  by  the 
Legislature  shall  hereafter  be  chosen  by  the  gradu- 
ates, subject  to  such  rules,  as  may  be  adopted  by  the 
board  of  trustees  and  the  alumni  association.  Ac- 
cording to  these  rules,  these  trustees  are  chosen  one 
every  year  and  hold  office  for  five  years,  thus  provid- 
ing for  the  continual  infusion  of  fresh  blood  from  the 
alumni  into  the  corporation. 

It  was  a  glad  day  for  Amherst  when  the  charter 
was  secured.  President  Humphrey  and  his  asso- 
ciates, who  had  remained  in  Boston  watching  with 
intense  anxiety  the  progress  of  the  bill,  returned 
home  with  light  hearts.  The  messenger  who  first 
brought  the  news  was  taken  from  the  stage  and  car- 
ried to  the  hotel  by  the  citizens.  The  hotel,  the  col- 
lege buildings,  and  the  houses  of  the  citizens  were 
illuminated,  and  the  village  and  the  college  alike 
were  a  scene  of  universal  rejoicing. 

On  the  1 3th  of  April,  the  trustees  under  the  charter 
held  their  first  meeting  in  Amherst,  organized  the 
board  and  appointed  the  faculty.  The  first  annual 
meeting  of  the  board  under  the  charter  was  held  on 
the  22d  of  August,  1825,  which  was  the  Monday  pre- 
ceding commencement.  At  this  meeting  a  code  of 


60  A   HISTORY    OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

laws  was  established  for  the  government  of  the  col- 
lege,1 a  system  of  by-laws  adopted  to  regulate  the 
proceedings  of  the  trustees  and  their  officers,  and 
the  organization  of  the  faculty  was  changed  by  the 
establishment  of  new  professorships  and  completed 
by  the  choice  of  additional  professors.  The  salary 
of  the  president  was  fixed  at  twelve  hundred  dollars 
with  the  usual  perquisites.  The  salaries  of  the  pro- 
fessors, as  they  were  voted  at  the  first  meeting  of  the 
board,  varied  from  eight  hundred  dollars  to  six  hun- 
dred dollars.  At  the  annual  meeting,  those  which 
had  been  voted  at  six  hundred  dollars  were  raised  to 
seven  hundred  dollars.2  Rev.  Edward  Hitchcock 
was  chosen  professor  of  chemistry  and  natural  his- 
tory, with  a  salary  of  seven  hundred  dollars  and  the 
privilege  of  being  excused  for  one  year  from  per- 
forming such  duties  of  a  professor  as  he  might  be 
unable  to  perform  "  on  account  of  his  want  of  full 
health."  Mr.  Jacob  Abbott  was  appointed  professor 
of  mathematics  and  natural  philosophy,  with  a  salary 
of  eight  hundred  dollars,  "one  hundred  of  which, 
however,  are  to  be  appropriated  by  him  annually, 
with  the  advice  of  the  other  members  of  the  faculty, 
toward  making  repairs  and  additions  to  the  philo- 
sophical apparatus."  Mr.  Ebenezer  S.  Snell  was 


1  These  laws  were  essentially  the  same  which  had  been  pre- 
viously established  for  the  government  of  the  Charity  Institu- 
tion.    They  seem  to  have  been  drawn  up  by  Dr.  Humphrey, 
in  whose  handwriting  the  original  copy  still  exists. 

2  At  the  annual  meeting  in  1827,  it  was  voted  that  the  pro- 
fessors receive  each  a  salary  of  eight  hundred  dollars :  and, 
as  a  rule,  the  professors  have  ever  since  all  received  the  same 
salary. 


A    HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  6 1 

chosen  tutor  in  mathematics  with  a  salary  of  four 
hundred  dollars. 

It  was  now  voted  to  confer  the  degree  of  Bachelor 
of  Arts  on  "  any  young  gentlemen  who  have  previ- 
ously received  testimonials  of  their  college  course  in 
this  college. "  The  same  degree  was  then  voted  to 
be  conferred  on  twenty-two  young  gentlemen  of  the 
senior  class  (1825)  who  had  been  recommended  by  the 
faculty. 

The  seal  which  was  affixed  to  the  diplomas  was 
procured  by  the  president  and  professors,  to  whom 
that  duty  was  assigned  by  the  trustees  at  their  first 
meeting,  and  being  approved  and  adopted  by  them 
at  their  first  annual  meeting,  it  has  remained  ever 
since  the  corporate  seal  of  the  college.  The  device 
is  a  sun  and  a  Bible  illuminating  a  globe  by  their 
united  radiance,  with  the  motto  underneath:  "  Terras 
Irradient. "  Around  the  whole  run  the  words :  "  SIGILL. 
COLL.  AMHERST.  MASS.  Nov.  ANG.  MDCCCXXV." 


CHAPTER  V. 

A  PERIOD   OF  RAPID  GROWTH,    1825-36 — FIRST    SCIEN- 
TIFIC COURSE THE  CHAPEL  BUILDING UNSUCCESSFUL 

APPEALS  TO  THE  LEGISLATURE — HOURS  AND  FINES — 
THE  PRESIDENT'S  HOUSE. 

THE  year  which  began  in  September,  1825,  was  the 
first  entire  collegiate  year  of  Amherst  College.  With 
this  year  our  history  enters  on  a  new  epoch.  The 
new  organization  of  the  faculty  dates  from  this  time, 
since  not  only  the  new  officers  now  commenced  the 
duties  of  their  office,  but  those  who  had  been  mem- 
bers of  the  faculty  before  had  hitherto  served  the  col- 
lege for  their  old  salaries  and  in  their  old  depart- 
ments. The  faculty  at  this  time  was  constituted  as 
follows:  Rev.  Heman  Humphrey,  D.D.,  president, 
professor  of  mental  and  moral  philosophy  and  pro- 
fessor of  divinity;  Rev.  Edward  Hitchcock,  A.M., 
professor  of  chemistry  and  natural  history;  Rev. 
Jonas  King,  A.M.,  professor  of  oriental  literature; 
Rev.  Nathan  W.  Fiske,  A.M.,  professor  of  the  Greek 
language  and  literature,  and  professor  of  belles- 
lettres;  Rev.  Solomon  Peck,  A.M.,  professor  of  the 
Hebrew  and  Latin  languages  and  literature;  Sam- 
uel M.  Worcester,  A.M.,  professor  of  rhetoric  and 
oratory;  Jacob  Abbott,  A.M.,  professor  of  mathe- 
matics and  natural  philosophy;  Ebenezer  S.  Snell, 
A.M.,  tutor  of  mathematics.  The  first  catalogue 
which  bears  the  names  of  this  faculty  was  printed 

62 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  63 

in  October,  1825,  by  Carter  &  Adams,  who  established 
the  first  printing-press  in  the  town  in  1825.  The 
catalogues,  which  had  hitherto  been  printed  abroad, 
were  henceforth  printed  in  Amherst. 

On  the  catalogue  for  1825,  John  Leland,  Esq.,  ap- 
pears as  treasurer,  and  Rufus  Graves  as  financier. 
In  1826  the  constitution  of  the  charity  fund  was  so 
altered  by  the  concurrent  action  of  the  board  of  trus- 
tees and  the  board  of  overseers  in  the  manner  pro- 
vided for  in  article  13,  that  the  office  of  financier  of 
that  fund  and  that  of  treasurer  of  the  college  could 
be  united  in  one  person;  and  from  1826  John  Leland 
was  both  treasurer  and  financier  till  1833,  when 
Lucius  Boltwood  was  appointed  financier  and  John 
Leland  retained  the  office  of  treasurer. 

From  one  hundred  and  twenty-six,  in  1823,  the 
number  of  students  increased,  the  next  year,  to  one 
hundred  and  thirty-six;  in  1825  it  rose  to  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty-two,  and  from  that  time  it  went  on  in- 
creasing pretty  regularly,  with  a  slight  ebb  in  1830 
and  1831,  for  a  period  of  eleven  years,  till  rising  to 
its  spring-tide  in  1836,  it  reached  an  aggregate  of 
two  hundred  and  fifty-nine.  For  two  years  Amherst 
ranked  above  Harvard  in  the  number  of  students, 
and  was  second  only  to  Yale.  Thus  was  the  senti- 
ment of  the  committee  of  investigation  confirmed, 
that  institutions  almost  always  flourish  under  per- 
secution whether  apparent  or  real,  and  gain  new 
strength  from  opposition. 

If  we  inquire  into  the  causes  of  this  rapid  and  ex- 
traordinary growth  of  the  college,  the  most  obvious, 
and,  for  a  time,  the  most  powerful,  was  unquestion- 
ably the  violent  opposition  which  it  encountered. 


64  A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

This  brought  it  into  immediate  notice  in  Massachu- 
setts. This  soon  made  it  known  and  conspicuous 
through  the  whole  country.  This  enlisted  the  sym- 
pathy and  support  not  only  of  those  who  held  the 
same  religious  faith,  but  of  all  who  love  fair  play 
and  hate  even  the  appearance  of  persecution.  Local 
feeling,  sectional  jealousy,  the  envy  of  neighboring 
towns  and  of  parishes  in  the  same  town,  the  interest 
of  rival  institutions,  sectarian  zeal  and  party  spirit, 
hostility  to  orthodoxy  and  hatred  of  evangelical  re- 
ligion, all  united  to  oppose  the  founding,  the  incor- 
poration, and  the  endowment  of  the  college;  and  the 
result  was  only  to  multiply  its  friends,  increase  the 
number  of  students,  and  swell  the  tide  which  bore  it 
on  to  victory  and  prosperity. 

In  1835,  two  years  before  the  close  of  our  period, 
Jonathan  B.  Condit  and  Edwards  A.  Park  became 
professors.  The  former  was  connected  with  the  col- 
lege only  three  years,  and  the  latter  rendered  the 
service  of  only  one  )rear  and  one  term.  At  the  re- 
signation of  Professor  Park,  in  1836,  Professor  Fiske 
was  transferred  from  the  Latin  and  Greek  chair  to 
that  of  intellectual  and  moral  philosophy,  and  W. 
S.  Tyler  was  chosen  professor  of  the  Latin,  Greek, 
and  Hebrew  languages  and  literature. 

The  number  of  students  was  increased  for  a  year 
or  two  by  the  introduction  of  a  new  course  of  study 
running  parallel  to  the  old. 

This  "parallel  or  equivalent  course,"  as  recom- 
mended by  the  faculty,  differed  from  the  old,  first, 
in  the  prominence  which  was  to  be  given  to  English 
literature ;  second,  in  the  substitution  of  the  modern 
for  the  ancient  languages,  particularly  the  French 


(UNIVERSITY) 

A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  65 

and  Spanish,  and  should  room  be  found  hereafter, 
German  or  Italian,  or  both,  with  particular  attention 
to  the  literature  in  these  rich  and  popular  languages; 
third,  in  mechanical  philosophy,  by  multiplying  and 
varying  the  experiments  so  as  to  render  the  science 
more  familiar  and  attractive;  fourth,  in  chemistry 
and  other  kindred  branches  of  physical  science,  by 
showing  their  application  to  the  more  useful  arts  and 
trades,  to  the  cultivation  of  the  soil,  and  to  domestic 
economy;  fifth,  in  a  course  of  familiar  lectures 
upon  curious  and  labor-saving  machines,  upon 
bridges,  locks,  and  aqueducts,  and  upon  the  different 
orders  of  architecture,  with  models  for  illustration ; 
sixth,  in  natural  history,  by  devoting  more  time  to 
those  branches  which  are  now  taught,  and  introduc- 
ing others  into  the  course;  seventh,  in  modern 
history,  especially  the  history  of  the  Puritans,  in 
connection  with  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  history  of 
our  own  country;  eighth,  in  the  elements  of  civil 
and  political  law,  embracing  the  careful  study  of 
the  American  constitutions,  to  which  may  be  added 
drawing  and  civil  engineering. 

Ancient  history,  geography,  grammar,  rhetoric, 
and  oratory,  mathematics,  natural,  intellectual  and 
moral  philosophy,  anatomy,  political  economy  and 
theology,  according  to  the  plan,  were  to  be  common 
to  both  courses.  The  requirements  for  admission 
were  also  to  be  the  same  for  both  courses,  not  ex- 
cepting the  present  amount  of  Latin  and  Greek, 
and  the  faculty  strenuously  insisted  that  the  new 
course  should  be  fully  "  equivalent"  to  the  old,  that 
it  should  fill  up  as  many  years,  should  be  carried  on 
by  as  able  instructors,  should  take  as  wide  and  ele- 


66  A   HISTORY   OF  AMHERST  COLLEGE. 

vated  a  range,  should  require  as  great  an  amount  of 
hard  study  or  mental  discipline,  and  should  be  re- 
warded by  the  same  academic  honors. 

Besides  the  new  parallel  or  equivalent  course,  the 
faculty  earnestly  recommended  a  new  department  for 
systematic  instruction  in  the  science  of  education, 
and  they  further  suggested  a  department  of  theoreti- 
cal and  practical  mechanics. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  board  in  December,  1826, 
they  adopted  the  new  system  substantially  as  recom- 
mended by  the  faculty,  and  not  long  after  the 
faculty  drew  up  a  plan  of  the  studies,  arranged  in 
parallel  columns  wherever  the  two  courses  differed, 
and  published  it,  together  with  other  matter  usually 
contained  in  the  annual  catalogue,  and  announced 
that  this  system  was  expected  to  go  into  operation  at 
the  beginning  of  the  next  ensuing  collegiate  year. 

At  the  commencement  of  that  year  (1827-28) 
the  whole  number  of  students  rose  from  one  hun- 
dred and  seventy  to  two  hundred  and  nine,  and  the 
freshman  class,  which  the  previous  year  contained 
fifty-one,  now  numbered  sixty-seven,  of  whom  eigh- 
teen are  set  down  on  the  catalogue  as  students  "  in 
modern  languages."  So  far  forth  the  experiment 
promised  well.  In  regard  to  the  number  of  students, 
it  was  at  least  a  fair  beginning.  But  now  com- 
menced the  difficulties  in  the  execution  of  the  plan. 
These  were  found  to  be  far  greater  than  the  trus- 
tees or  the  faculty  had  anticipated.  The  teacher  of 
modern  languages,  a  native  of  France,  was  not  very 
successful  in  teaching,  and  was  quite  incapable  of 
maintaining  order  in  his  class,  so  that  the  faculty 
were  compelled  to  appoint  one  of  the  professors  to 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  6/ 

preside  at  his  recitations.  The  professors  and  tutors 
on  whom  it  devolved  to  give  the  additional  instruc- 
tion, although  willing,  as  they  declared  in  their  re- 
port, "to  take  upon  themselves  additional  burdens," 
had  their  hands  full  already  with  other  duties,  and 
found  unexpected  difficulties  in  organizing  and  con- 
ducting the  new  course  of  studies.  The  college  was 
not  sufficiently  manned  for  the  work  it  had  under- 
taken, and  was  too  poor  to  furnish  an  adequate 
faculty.  Truth  also  probably  requires  the  state- 
ment that  the  new  course,  which  was  the  favorite 
scheme  of  one  of  the  professors,  was  never  very 
heartily  adopted  by  the  rest  of  the  faculty,  who, 
therefore,  worked  in  and  for  it  with  far  less  courage 
and  enthusiasm  than  they  did  in  the  studies  of  the 
old  curriculum.  Moreover  they  discovered,  as  the 
year  advanced,  that  the  new  plan  was  not  received 
by  the  public  with  so  much  favor  as  had  been  ex- 
pected, that  they  had  probably  overestimated  the 
popular  demand  for  the  modern  languages  and  the 
physical  sciences  in  collegiate  education.  The  stu- 
dents of  the  new  course  were  not  slow  to  perceive  all 
these  facts.  They  soon  discovered  the  fact,  whatever 
might  be  the  cause,  that  they  were  not  obtaining  an 
education  which  was  in  reality  equivalent  to  that 
obtained  by  other  students. 

The  next  year,  1828,  the  freshman  class  fell  back 
to  fifty-two,  just  about  the  number  of  two  years  be- 
fore; and  of  these  so  few  wished,  or  particularly 
cared,  to  join  the  new  course,  that  there  was  no  divi- 
sion organized  in  the  modern  languages.  Those 
who  had  entered  the  previous  year,  gradually  fell 
back  into  the  regular  course.  The  catalogue  for  the 


68  A    HISTORY    OF   AMHERST    COLLEGE. 

year  1828-29  retains  no  trace  of  the  new  plan,  ex- 
cept the  parallel  columns  of  the  old  and  new  courses 
of  studies.  At  their  annual  meeting  in  1829,  the 
trustees  voted  to  dispense  with  the  parallel  course 
in  admitting  students  hereafter,  and  made  French 
one  of  the  regular  studies.  At  the  same  meeting,  the 
professor  who  was  the  father  of  the  scheme  resigned 
his  professorship.  Thus  not  a  vestige  of  the  experi- 
ment remained,  except  that  the  class  with  which  it 
was  introduced  graduated  in  1831  the  largest  class 
that  had  ever  left  the  institution.  Thus  ended  the 
first  attempt  to  introduce  the  modern  languages  and 
the  physical  sciences  as  an  equivalent  of  the  time- 
honored  system  of  classical  culture  in  our  American 
colleges.  The  plan,  as  it  was  presented  in  the  reports 
of  the  faculty,  was  exceedingly  attractive  and  prom- 
ising, and  with  ampler  means  and  under  more  favor- 
able circumstances  might  probably  have  been  sus- 
tained and  thus  anticipated  by  half  a  century  much  of 
the  success  which  now  attends  our  elective  courses. 

With  so  large  a  number  of  students,  and  that  num- 
ber constantly  and  rapidly  increasing,  the  officers  of 
the  college  soon  found  the  place  too  strait  for  them, 
and  began  very  naturally  to  look  about  for  more 
ample  accommodations.  The  most  immediate  and 
pressing  want  was  felt  to  be  that  of  a  more  conven- 
ient and  suitable  place  of  worship.  "  When  I  entered 
upon  my  office,  in  1823,"  says  President  Humphrey, 
"the  students  worshipped  on  the  Sabbath  in  the  old 
parish  meeting-house  on  the  hill.  I  soon  found  that 
the  young  men  of  the  society  felt  themselves  crowded 
by  the  students,  and  there  were  increasing  symptoms 
from  Sabbath  to  Sabbath  of  collision  and  disturbance. 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  69 

I  accordingly  told  the  trustees  that  I  thought  it  would 
be  safest  and  best  for  us  to  withdraw  and  worship  by 
ourselves  in  one  of  the  college  buildings  till  a  chapel 
could  be  built  for  permanent  occupancy.  They  au- 
thorized us  to  do  so,  and  I  have  never  doubted  the 
expediency  of  the  change  on  this  and  even  more  im- 
portant grounds."  l 

The  chief  reason  which  the  venerable  ex-president 
in  his  "  Historical  Sketches"  proceeds  to  urge  in  favor 
of  a  separate  congregation  and  place  of  worship  for 
students,  is  the  greater  appropriateness,  directness, 
and  impressiveness  of  the  preaching  which  can  thus 
be  addressed  to  them.  He  deemed  it  a  great  loss  of 
moral  power  to  preach  to  students  scattered  among 
a  large  mixed  congregation. 

But  the  old  chapel,  laboratory,  and  lecture-room, 
and  room  for  every  other  use,  in  the  upper  story  of 
North  College,  could  not  long  accommodate  the 
growing  number  of  students,  even  for  morning  and 
evening  prayers,  still  less  the  congregation  for  Sab- 
bath worship.  The  subject  of  a  new  chapel  came 
before  the  board  of  trustees  at  their  first  meeting 
under  the  charter.  They  were  encouraged  to  con- 
sider the  subject  and  form  some  plans  in  respect  to 
it  by  a  legacy  of  some  four  thousand  dollars  or  more 
which  Adam  Johnson  of  Pelham  had  left  to  the  col- 
lege for  the  express  purpose  of  erecting  such  a  build- 
ing. But  his  will  had  been  disallowed  by  the  Judge 
of  Probate,  and  an  appeal  from  his  decision  was  now 
pending  in  the  Supreme  Court.  At  this  time,  there- 
fore, they  only  voted  that  in  case  the  will  should  be 

1  Historical  Sketches  in  manuscript. 


70  A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

established,  the  prudential  committee  be  instructed 
to  proceed  with  all  convenient  dispatch  in  the  erec- 
tion of  a  chapel  building.  They  furthermore  au- 
thorized that  committee  to  borrow  any  further  sum  of 
money  which  they  might  deem  requisite  for  that 
purpose,  not  exceeding  six  thousand  dollars.  "At 
the  annual  meeting  in  August,  1825,  the  call  for  a 
chapel  and  other  public  accommodations  had  become 
too  urgent  to  be  postponed  without  sacrificing  the  in- 
terests of  the  college.  In  this  emergency  the  trus- 
tees could  not  hesitate.  They  saw  but  one  course, 
and  they  promptly  empowered  the  prudential  com- 
mittee to  contract  for  the  erection  of  a  chapel  build- 
ing,"1 and  also  a  third  college  edifice,  if  they  deemed 
it  expedient,  at  the  same  time  authorizing  them  to 
borrow  such  sums  of  money  as  might  be  necessary 
therefor,  of  the  charity  fund,  of  banks,  or  of  indi- 
viduals. 

The  work  on  the  Chapel  was  commenced  early  in 
the  spring  of  1826,  and  so  far  completed  in  the 
course  of  the  season  that  on  the  28th  of  February, 
1827,  it  was  dedicated.  Dr.  Humphrey  preached 
the  dedication  sermon.  His  text  was:  "Hitherto 
hath  the  Lord  helped  us."  "Five  years  ago,"  he 
says,  "there  was  one  building  for  the  accommoda- 
tion of  between  fifty  and  sixty  students ;  four  years 
ago  there  were  between  ninety  and  a  hundred  young 
men  here ;  one  year  ago,  there  were  a  hundred  and 
fifty ;  and  now  there  are  a  hundred  and  seventy.  It 
is  scarcely  two  years  since  the  seminary  was  char- 
tered, and  yet  I  believe  that  in  the  number  of  under- 

1  Dr.  Humphrey's  dedication  sermon. 


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A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  71 

graduates  it  now  holds  the  third  or  fourth  rank  in 
the  long  list  of  American  colleges!  God  forbid  that 
this  statement  should  excite  any  but  grateful  emo- 
tions. It  is  meet  that  we  should  carefully  look  over 
this  ground  to-day,  that  the  inscription  may  be  indeli- 
bly engraved  on  our  hearts — *  Hitherto  hath  the  Lord 
helped  us.'  " 

Meanwhile  the  decision  of  the  Judge  of  Pro- 
bate had  been  reversed,  and  the  will  of  Adam 
Jolmson  established  by  the  Supreme  Court  and, 
at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  board  in  August, 
1828,  it  was  voted  that  in  testimony  of  their  grateful 
remembrance  of  his  munificent  donation,  the  apart- 
ment occupied  as  a  chapel  should  forever  be  called 
Johnson  Chapel,  and  that  the  President  be  requested 
to  have  the  words,  "Johnson  Chapel, "  inserted  in 
large  and  distinct  characters  over  the  middle  door 
or  principal  entrance  of  the  apartment. 

Besides  the  chapel  proper,  the  chapel  building 
contained  originally  four  recitation -rooms,  a  room 
for  philosophical  apparatus,  and  a  cabinet  for  miner- 
als on  the  lower  floor,  two  recitation-rooms  on  the 
second  floor,  a  library  room  on  the  third  floor,  and  a 
laboratory  in  the  basement.  These  recitation-rooms 
were  named  after  the  departments  to  which  they 
were  appropriated,  for  example,  the  Greek,  Latin, 
mathematical  or  tablet l  rooms  on  the  first  floor,  and 
the  rhetorical  and  theological  rooms  on  the  second, 
and  they  were  far  in  advance  of  the  recitation-rooms 
of  the  older  colleges  in  size,  beauty,  and  convenience. 
The  college  library  was  soon  removed  from  the 


1  So  called  because  the  walls  were  covered  with  blackboards. 
6 


72  A    HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

fourth  story  of  North  College  to  the  room  intended 
for  it  in  the  third  story  of  the  Chapel,  and  the  room 
not  being  half  filled  by  it,  the  remaining  half,  viz., 
the  shelves  on  either  side  of  the  door,  were  for 
some  time  set  apart  respectively  for  the  libraries  of 
the  Alexandrian  and  Athenian  societies.  When  bet- 
ter accommodations  were  furnished  many  years  later 
for  the  mineral  cabinet,  the  recitation-rooms l  of  Prof. 
R.  H.  Mather  and  Prof.  J.  H.  Seelye  took  the  place 
of  the  tablet  room,  the  old  cabinet,  and  a  part  of  the 
adjoining  entry,  and  the  rhetorical  and  theological 
rooms  gave  place  to  the  small  chapel.  And  when 
Williston  Hall  provided  for  the  chemical  department, 
the  old  laboratory,  so  long  the  scene  of  Professor 
Hitchcock's  brilliant  experiments  and  coruscations  of 
genius,  was  given  up  to  storage  and  other  neces- 
sary but  comparatively  ignoble  uses. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  trustees  in  August, 
1827,  it  was  voted  that  the  prudential  committee  be 
directed  to  take  immediate  measures  for  erecting 
another  college  building  for  the  accommodation  of 
the  students,  similar  to  those  already  erected,  and 
cause  the  same  to  be  completed  as  soon  as  may  be, 
provided  that  in  their  judgment  a  suitable  site  for 
such  building  can  be  obtained. 

The  site  was  soon  selected,  and  before  the  com- 
mencement of  another  collegiate  year,  the  building 
was  completed  so  as  to  be  occupied  by  students  for 

1  Now  occupied  by  Professor  Richardson  and  Professor  Mon- 
tague. Professor  Cowles  now  occupies  the  old  mathematical 
room,  so  long  the  scene  of  Professor  Snell's  recitations  and 
lectures.  The  lower  story  of  the  chapel  building  is  now  devot- 
ed entirely  to  ancient  and  modern  languages  (1894) . 


A    HISTORY   OF  AMHERST   COLLEGE.  73 

the  year  1828-29.  This  new  dormitory  was  better 
adapted  to  promote  the  health,  comfort,  and  conven- 
ience of  students,  especially  in  its  well-lighted  and 
ventilated  bed-rooms,  and  its  ample  closets,  than 
either  of  the  other  buildings,  and  was  perhaps  a  bet- 
ter dormitory,  as  being  built  on  a  better  plan,  than 
any  that  then  existed  in  any  other  college.  It  had, 
however,  the  disadvantage  of  running  east  and  west, 
instead  of  north  and  south,  so  that  the  rooms  on  the 
north  side  were  never  visited  by  the  sun,  and  no 
such  rooms  are  fit  to  be  inhabited.  Still  it  was  for 
many  years  the  favorite  dormitory  and  its  rooms 
were  the  first  choice  of  members  of  the  upper  classes, 
not  a  few  of  whom,  on  their  return  to  Amherst,  look 
in  vain  for  the  North  College  of  their  day *  as  the 
centre  of  some  of  their  most  sacred  associations.  In 
the  winter  of  1857  it  was  destroyed  by  fire,  and  its 
site  is  now  occupied  by  Williston  Hall. 

It  was  in  connection  with  the  site  of  North  Col- 
lege that  the  process  of  grading  the  college  grounds 
began,  which,  during  so  many  years  in  the  poverty 
of  the  college,  was  carried  forward  by  the  hands  of 
the  students,  sometimes  by  individuals  working  out 
of  study  hours,  and  sometimes  by  a  whole  class  vol- 
unteering to  devote  a  half-day  or  a  whole  day  to  the 
work.  Or,  if  the  process  began  earlier,  we  now 
find  it  receiving  a  special  and  grateful  recognition 
on  the  records  of  the  trustees,  who,  at  their  annual 
meeting  in  August,  1827,  "having  noticed  with 
much  satisfaction  the  improvements  made  in  the 

1  From  1828  to  1857,  this  was  called  North  College,  and  the 
present  North  was  called  Middle  College  during  the  same 
period. 


74  A    HISTORY   OF  AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

college  grounds,  and  hearing  that  these  were  effected 
principally  by  the  voluntary  labors  of  the  students," 
passed  a  vote  expressing  the  "  pleasure  they  felt  in 
view  of  these  self-denying  and  benevolent  exertions 
to  add  to  the  beauty  and  convenience  of  the  institu- 
tion." The  same  enterprise  and  public  spirit  also 
gave  birth  soon  after  to  a  gymnasium  in  the  grove,  a 
bathing  establishment  at  the  well,  and  a  college  band, 
which,  for  many  years,  furnished  music  at  exhibi- 
tions, commencements,  and  other  public  occasions. 

During  the  summer  term  of  1828,  the  students,  with 
the  approbation  of  the  faculty,  organized  a  sort  of 
interior  government,  supplementary  to  that  of  the 
faculty,  and  designed  to  secure  more  perfect  order 
and  quietness  in  the  institution.  A  legislative  body, 
called  the  "  House  of  Students,"  enacted  laws  for  the 
protection  of  the  buildings,  for  the  security  of  the 
grounds,  for  the  better  observance  of  study  hours, 
and  similar  matters.  Then  a  court,  with  a  regularly 
organized  bench,  bar,  and  constabulary,  enforced  the 
execution  of  the  laws,  tried  offenders  in  due  form 
and  process,  and  inflicted  the  penalties  affixed  to 
their  violation.  The  plan  worked  smoothly  and  use- 
fully for  about  two  years,  but  at  length  a  certain 
class  of  students  grew  restive  under  the  restraints 
and  penalties  which  were  imposed ;  for 

None  e'er  felt  the  halter  draw 
With  good  opinion  of  the  law. 

And  in  1830,  after  a  most  animated,  and  on  one 
side  quite  impassioned,  discussion  in  the  whole  body 
of  the  students,  a  small  majority  of  votes  was  ob- 
tained against  it,  and  the  system  was  abolished. 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST    COLLEGE.  75 

Our  readers  will  see  in  the  House  of  Students  an  an- 
ticipation of  the  later  College  Senate. 

When  the  Chapel  and  North  College  were  finished, 
the  trustees  found  themselves  deeply  in  debt.  In- 
deed the  college  came  into  existence  as  a  chartered 
institution  with  a  debt  of  eighteen  thousand  dollars, 
the  greater  part  of  which,  however,  was  liquidated 
by  the  thirty  thousand  dollar  subscription.  The 
erection  of  the  Chapel  added  some  eleven  thousand 
dollars  to  the  burden.1  North  College  cost  ten 
thousand  dollars  more.  The  purchase  of  the  lot  of 
land  belonging  to  the  estate  of  Dr.  Parsons,  on 
which  the  president's  house  and  the  library  now 
stand,  and  the  share  taken  in  the  new  village  church 
that  the  college  might  have  a  place  to  hold  its  com- 
mencements, swelled  the  sum  still  higher. 

An  effort  was  made  to  meet  this  indebtedness  at 
the  time  by  private  subscriptions  and  donations,2 
but  the  amount  raised  in  this  way  was  not  even 
sufficient  to  pay  the  bills  for  North  College.  For 
the  remaining  and  now  constantly  increasing  indebt- 
edness, no  resource  seemed  to  be  left  but  an  appeal 
to  the  Legislature.  The  first  application  to  the 
Legislature  for  pecuniary  aid  was  made  in  the  win- 
ter session  of  1827.  The  petition  signed  by  Presi- 
dent Humphrey,  in  behalf  of  the  trustees,  sets  forth 
the  pressing  necessities  of  the  institution,  and  how 
they  had  arisen,  asks  nothing  more  than  the  means 

1  The  building  cost  fifteen  thousand  dollars,  four  thousand 
of  which  was  contributed  by  the  Johnson  legacy. 

2  It  was  in  this  effort  that  Rev.  Mr.  Vaill  was  first  appointed 
agent  of  the  college  with  a  salary  of  eight  hundred  dollars, 
viz.,  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  trustees  in  August,  1829. 


76  A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

of  defraying  the  expenses  already  incurred  for  the 
accommodation  of  its  increasing  number  of  pupils, 
and  such  further  aids  and  facilities  for  the  communi- 
cation of  knowledge  as  are  indispensable  to  its  con- 
tinued prosperit)",  and  urges  no  claim  except  the  un- 
paralleled private  munificence  and  individual  efforts 
by  which  it  has  been  sustained,  and  the  duty  de- 
volved upon  the  Legislature  by  the  constitution, 
and  cheerfully  discharged  by  them  in  reference  to 
the  other  colleges  of  the  state,  to  foster  institutions 
of  learning  established  by  their  authority,  and  gov- 
erned in  no  small  measure  by  trustees  of  their  own 
choice.  This  petition  was  referred  to  a  committee  of 
both  houses,  who  gave  the  petitioners  a  patient  hear- 
ing, and  manifested  a  willingness  on  their  part  to  aid 
the  college,  but  "  they  found  the  state  of  the  public 
finances  incompatible  with  such  aid,"  and  hence  felt 
constrained  to  make  an  unfavorable  report.  This  re- 
port was  accepted  by  both  houses,  and  there  the 
matter  rested  for  four  years. 

In  the  winter  session  of  1831,  the  trustees  came 
before  the  General  Court  again  with  substantially 
the  same  petition,  made  more  urgent  by  increasing 
necessities,  but  only  to  meet  with  substantially  the 
same  result.  The  committee,  consisting  of  Messrs. 
Gray  and  Lincoln  of  Worcester,  from  the  Senate,  and 
Messrs.  Baylie  of  Taunton,  Marston  of  Newbury- 
port,  and  Williams  of  Northampton,  from  the  House, 
recognized  the  necessities  of  the  institution,  as  also 
its  merits  and  success.  Indeed  they  made  an  admir- 
able argument  in  favor  of  a  grant,  but,  with  a  non 
sequitur  which  surprises  the  reader,  they  concluded 
with  a  recommendation  that  for  the  present,  at  least, 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  77 

the  grant  shall  be  withheld  The  last  two  sentences 
of  their  report  read  as  follows-  "The  degree  of 
public  estimation  which  the  college  enjoys  is  evi- 
denced by  the  unexampled  success  which  has  attended 
the  exertions  of  its  officers,  and  which  has  placed  it, 
as  regards  the  number  of  its  pupils,  in  the  third  rank 
among  the  colleges  of  the  United  States.  Your 
committee  are  not  unmindful  of  the  obligation  which 
the  constitution  imposes  on  the  Legislature  to  cher- 
ish and  foster  seminaries  of  learning,  and  if  the 
present  state  of  the  treasury  would  justify  it,  they 
would  not  hesitate  to  recommend  that  a  liberal  en- 
dowment should  be  granted  to  Amherst ;  but  under 
existing  circumstances  it  is  their  opinion  that  the 
further  consideration  of  the  petition  of  Amherst 
College  for  pecuniary  aid  be  referred  to  the  first 
session  of  the  next  General  Court."  This  report 
met  the  prompt  acceptance  of  the  Senate,  and,  on 
the  same  day,  the  concurrence  of  the  House. 

At  the  first  session  of  the  next  General  Court,  which 
commenced  in  May,  1831,  the  petition  of  the  trustees 
and  the  report  of  the  committee  of  the  last  Legisla- 
ture were  referred  to  a  joint  committee,  consisting  of 
Messrs.  Lincoln  and  Brooks,  of  the  Senate,  and  Messrs. 
Huntington  of  Salem,  Bowman  of  New  Braintree, 
and  Hayes  of  South  Hadley,  of  the  House,  who  were 
unanimously  of  the  opinion  that  the  public  interest 
required  that  pecuniary  aid  be  afforded  to  Amherst 
College,  and  submitted  a  resolve  for  that  purpose. 
The  resolve  gave  the  college  fifty  thousand  dollars 
in  semi-annual  instalments  of  two  thousand  five 
hundred  dollars  each,  but,  owing  to  the  shortness  of 
the  summer  session,  the  subject  was  again  postponed. 


78  A   HISTORY   OF  AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

The  state  being  now  in  funds,  it  was  not  doubted 
that  a  grant  would  be  obtained  as  soon  as  the  Gen- 
eral Court  could  have  time  to  act  deliberately  upon 
the  subject.  Accordingly  a  new  petition  was  drawn 
up  by  authority  of  the  trustees  and  presented  in 
January,  1832.  It  was  referred  to  a  highly  respecta- 
ble committee,  who  adopted  substantially  the  favor- 
able report  of  previous  committees,  and  unanimously 
submitted  the  same  resolve. 

When  their  report  came  before  the  House  for  dis- 
cussion in  committee  of  the  whole,  the  college  was 
attacked  with  great  acrimony  on  the  one  hand,  and 
defended  with  distinguished  magnanimity  and  ability 
on  the  other.  Mr.  Foster  of  Brimfield,  Mr.  Buck- 
ingham of  Boston,  Mr.  Bliss  of  Springfield,  and  Mr. 
Calhoun  of  Springfield,  who  was  a  trustee  and  who 
was  then  speaker  of  the  House,  spoke  ably  and  elo- 
quently in  the  defence.  Others  desired  to  be  heard 
on  the  same  side.  But  the  majority  was  impatient 
for  "the  question."  The  vote  was  taken.  It  went 
against  the  college  with  "fearful  odds,"  and  on  mo- 
tion of  Mr.  Sturgis  of  Boston  the  whole  subject  was 
indefinitely  postponed.  Thus,  after  a  suspense  of 
five  )rears,  during  which  they  had  obtained  the  fa- 
vorable reports  of  four  successive  committees  of  the 
Legislature,  were  the  hopes  of  the  trustees  blasted 
in  a  moment,  and  the  debts  of  the  college  returned 
upon  them  with  a  weight  which  it  was  impossible 
any  longer  to  sustain. 

After  this  result  no  time  was  lost  in  calling  a  spe- 
cial meeting  of  the  trustees  to  consider  what  was 
to  be  done  in  this  critical  emergency.  The  board 
met  on  the  6th  of  March.  It  was  an  anxious  day, 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST    COLLEGE.  79 

and  direction  was  sought  of  Him  who  had  hitherto 
succored  the  college  in  all  its  perils.  Letters  full 
of  hope  and  encouragement  were  read  from  influen- 
tial friends  in  different  parts  of  the  State,  urging 
them  without  delay  to  appeal  to  the  public  for  the 
aid  which  the  Legislature  had  so  ungraciously  re- 
fused. They  accordingly  resolved  to  make  an  im- 
mediate appeal  to  the  friends  of  the  college,  asking 
for  fifty  thousand  dollars  as  the  least  sum  which 
would  relieve  it  from  debt  and  future  embarrassment. 
A  committee  of  their  own  body,  consisting  of  the 
president,  Hon.  Samuel  Lathrop  and  Hon.  William 
B.  Banister,  was  appointed  to  publish  the  appeal,  and 
President  Humphrey,  Professor  Fiske,  Rev.  Joseph 
Vaill,  Rev.  Sylvester  Holmes  of  New  Bedford,  Rev. 
Calvin  Hitchcock  of  Randolph,  and  Rev.  Richard  S. 
Storrs  of  Braintree,  were  appointed  agents  to  solicit 
subscriptions. 

The  appeal  met  with  a  prompt  and  hearty  re- 
sponse. The  people  of  Amherst  put  their  shoulders 
again  to  the  wheel  and  raised  three  thousand  dollars 
— they  had  given  little  short  of  twenty  thousand 
dollars  in  money  before.  President  Humphrey  vis- 
ited Boston  the  first  week  in  April,  and  in  a  few  days 
had  raised  a  subscription  of  seven  thousand  dollars 
there.  A  subscription  was  started  spontaneously 
among  the  Amherst  alumni  at  Andover — fifty-seven 
out  of  one  hundred  and  fifty-three  students  at  An- 
dover at  this  time  were  alumni  of  Amherst — and 
they  in  their  poverty  subscribed  from  ten  to  twenty- 
five  dollars  apiece. 

Under  the  influence  of  such  arguments  and  appeals, 
evangelical  Christians  through  the  State  rallied  to 


80  A    HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

its  support  with  such  cordial  good  will  that  we 
find  them  congratulating  each  other  and  the  college 
on  the  rejection  of  its  petition  by  the  Legislature. 
At  the  commencement  in  August  it  was  announced 
that  thirty  thousand  dollars  had  been  subscribed.  It 
was  feared  that  the  remaining  twenty  thousand  dol- 
lars would  come  with  great  difficulty,  but  the 
work  went  bravely  on  to  its  completion,  and  on 
the  last  day  of  the  year,  December  31,  1832,  the 
news  being  received  that  the  whole  sum  was  made  up 
and  the  subscription  was  complete,  the  students  ex- 
pressed their  joy  in  the  evening  by  ringing  the  bells 
and  an  illumination  of  the  college  buildings,  thus 
celebrating  with  the  beginning  of  a  new  year  what 
they  believed  to  be  a  new  era  in  the  history  of  the 
college. 

During  the  presidency  of  Dr.  Moore,  and  the  first 
ten  years  of  Dr.  Humphrey's  administration,  the  old- 
fashioned  system  continued  unchanged,  according  to 
which  morning  prayers  and  the  morning  recitation 
were  not  only  held  before  breakfast,  but  were  held  at 
hours  varying  from  month  to  month,  sometimes 
changing  almost  from  week  to  week,  according  to  the 
season  of  the  year,  so  as  to  bring  the  recitation  at 
the  earliest  hour  at  which  it  could  well  be  heard  by 
daylight.  The  breakfast  hour  was  thus  very  late  in 
midwinter,  and  yet  the  light  in  cloudy  weather  was 
often  very  imperfect  for  the  morning  recitation. 
In  1833,  by  vote  of  the  faculty,  the  bell  for  morn- 
ing prayers  was  fixed  at  a  quarter  before  five  in  sum- 
mer and  a  quarter  before  six  in  winter.  And  this 
was  done  at  the  request  of  the  students,  a  large  ma- 
jority of  whom  petitioned  for  the  change.  This  fact 


A   HISTORY    OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  8 1 

is  worthy  of  note,  as  illustrating  the  character  and 
spirit  of  the  students  at  the  time.  And  the  arrange- 
ment of  recitations  and  study  hours,  which  was  thus 
introduced,  and  which  continued  for  many  years,  was, 
in  some  respects,  preferable  either  to  that  which  pre- 
ceded, or  to  any  which  has  followed  it.  The  student's 
working  day  was  thus  divided  into  three  nearly  equal 
parts,  in  each  of  which  two  or  three  hours  were  set 
apart  for  study,  and  each  period  of  study-hours  was 
followed  immediately  by  a  recitation.  Recitations 
at  intervening  and  irregular  hours  were  carefully 
avoided,  and  in  order  to  avoid  them,  the  tutors,  and 
to  some  extent  the  professors,  did  not  confine  them- 
selves to  one  department,  but  heard  different  divi- 
sions of  the  same  class  at  the  same  hour, — in  the 
morning  perhaps  in  Greek,  at  noon  in  Latin,  and  in 
the  afternoon  in  mathematics. 

The  observance  of  study-hours  was  enforced  with 
much  strictness  by  college  pains  and  penalties, 
among  which  fines  were  perhaps  the  most  frequent. 
This  was  the  day  when  fines  were  in  vogue  in  all  the 
colleges,  and  when  in  Amherst  College  the  system 
rose  to  its  highest  (or  sank  to  its  lowest)  pitch  of 
perfection.  Fines  were  imposed  for  exercise  or  bath- 
ing in  study-hours,  for  playing  on  a  musical  instru- 
ment, for  firing  a  gun  near  the  college  buildings,  for 
attending  the  village  church  without  permission.  In 
short,  fines  seem  to  have  been  the  sovereign  remedy 
for  all  the  ills  that  the  college  was  heir  to.  The 
records  of  the  faculty  in  these  days  preserve  the 
memory  of  fines  imposed  on  students  who  now  adorn 
some  of  the  highest  places  at  the  bar,  on  the  bench, 
and  in  the  pulpit,  to  say  nothing  of  the  medical  pro- 


82  A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

fession.  This  much  at  least  may  be  said  to  the 
credit  of  the  faculty,  that  they  were  impartial  in 
their  administration;  for  we  find  a  vote  recorded 
imposing  a  fine  of  fifty  cents  a  week  on  any  member 
of  the  faculty  who  should  fail  to  visit  every  week 
the  rooms  of  the  students  assigned  him  for  such  pa- 
rochial visitation!  But  Professor  Fiske  entered  his 
protest,  and  this  vote  was  soon  rescinded. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  trustees  in  1832,  a 
change  in  the  vacations,  which  had  been  discussed  at 
the  two  preceding  annual  meetings,  was  adopted, 
and  went  into  effect  the  next  collegiate  year.  The 
vacations  had  hitherto  been  four  weeks  from  the 
fourth  Wednesday  of  August  (commencement),  six 
weeks  from  the  fourth  Wednesday  of  December,  and 
three  weeks  from  the  second  Wednesday  of  May. 
They  were  now  changed  to  six  weeks  from  the 
fourth  Wednesday  of  August,  two  weeks  from  the 
second  Wednesday  of  January,  and  four  weeks  from 
the  first  Wednesday  of  May.  The  most  important 
feature  of  the  change  was  that  the  long  vacation, 
which  had  hitherto  been  in  the  winter,  was  hence- 
forth to  be  in  the  autumn.  The  new  arrangement 
was  ideally  better,  perhaps,  both  for  officers  and 
students,  inasmuch  as  the  autumn  is  the  pleasanter 
season  for  recreation,  and  the  winter  more  suitable 
and  convenient  for  study.  But  it  was  quite  unsuit- 
able and  inconvenient  for  that  large  class  of  students 
who  had  been  accustomed  to  help  themselves  by 
teaching  in  the  winter.  The  trustees  provided  that 
they  might  still  be  allowed  to  teach  twelve  weeks  of 
each  college  year,  including  either  of  the  three  va- 
cations, and  it  was  hoped  that  they  might  find  select 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  83 

schools  in  the  fall  as  remunerative  as  common 
schools  in  the  winter.  But  the  experiment  proved 
unsuccessful,  and,  after  a  trial  of  eight  years,  in  1840 
the  college  returned  to  a  modified  and  improved 
plan,  of  which,  however,  the  essential  principle  was 
a  long  winter  vacation.  This  plan  was  gradually 
superseded  by  the  present  arrangement,  which  pro- 
vides for  a  vacation  of  ten  weeks  in  the  summer. 

At  their  annual  meeting  in  1833,  the  trustees 
voted  to  relinquish  the  old  practice  of  having  a  fore- 
noon and  afternoon  session  at  commencement,  sepa- 
rated by  the  corporation  dinner,  and  at  the  com- 
mencement in  1834  the  new  system  of  one  session 
was  introduced,  which  has  ever  since  continued,  to 
the  entire  satisfaction  of  all  concerned. 

In  consequence  of  some  sickness  in  the  president's 
family,  the  impression  prevailed  that  the  president's 
house,  which  was  built  for  Dr.  Moore  in  1821,  was 
damp  and  unhealthy.  At  a  special  meeting  of  the 
board  in  October,  1833,  trie  Trustees  requested  the 
prudential  committee  to  ascertain  how  much  of  the 
recent  fifty  thousand  dollar  subscription  would  re- 
main after  the  payment  of  the  college  debts,  and  in 
case  there  should  prove  to  be  a  sufficient  balance, 
they  authorized  the  committee  to  make  immediate 
arrangements  for  the  erection  of  a  new  house,  at  an 
expense  not  exceeding  five  thousand  dollars.  On 
investigation,  the  prudential  committee  estimated 
that  after  discharging  all  debts  there  would  be  a  bal- 
ance in  the  treasury  of  about  four  thousand  dollars, 
which,  with  the  sum  realized  by  the  sale  of  the  old 
house,  would  be  sufficient  to  cover  the  expense  of 
the  new.  They  accordingly  sold  the  old  house  for 


84  A    HISTORY    OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

two  thousand  five  hundred  dollars,  and  commenced 
the  erection  of  a  new  one  on  land  recently  purchased 
of  the  Parsons  estate,  directly  opposite  the  college 
edifices;  and  "during  1834  and  1835  the  house  was 
built,  not  by  contract,  but  by  day's  work,  and  the 
consequence  was  that  when  the  bills  were  all  in 
they  amounted  to  about  nine  thousand  dollars."1 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  trustees  in  1834, 
they  voted  to  appoint  a  special  agent  for  the  imme- 
diate collection  of  the  balance  of  the  fifty  thousand 
dollar  subscription,  and  directed  the  prudential 
committee  "  to  proceed  with  all  convenient  dispatch 
to  erect  an  additional  college  hall,  provided  they 
can  procure  funds  for  the  purpose  by  donation,  or 
by  loan  upon  the  security  of  a  pledge  of  the  building 
to  be  erected  and  its  income,  for  the  repayment." 
During  the  years  1835  and  1836,  the  process  of  grad- 
ing the  grounds  in  front  of  the  existing  edifices  and 
preparing  a  site  for  a  new  hall  at  the  south  end  of 
the  row  was  commenced  and  carried  forward  at  an 
expense  of  two  or  three  thousand  dollars.  But  the 
hall  was  not  erected,  doubtless  for  the  very  good 
reason  that  the  funds  could  not  be  obtained,  and  the 
site  was  reserved  for  the  erection  of  the  Appleton 
Cabinet  under  more  auspicious  circumstances. 

At  the  same  meeting  of  the  board  (1834),  the  tui- 
tion was  raised  one  dollar  a  term.  At  the  annual 

1  Reminiscences  of  Amherst  College,  pp.  58,  59.  Dr.  Hitch- 
cock not  only  complains  of  the  amount  of  the  bills  for  which, 
during  Dr.  Humphrey's  absence  in  Europe,  no  one  was  will- 
ing to  be  responsible,  but  he  declares  his  preference  for  the 
old  house,  especially  in  regard  to  its  location.  The  old  house 
is  now  owned  and  occupied  by  the  Psi  Upsilon  Society. 


A    HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  85 

meeting  in  1836,  there  was  a  further  addition  of  one 
dollar  a  term,  thus  making  the  tuition  at  this  time 
eleven  dollars  a  term,  and  thirty-three  dollars  a  year. 
At  the  same  timej:he  salaries  of  the  professors  were 
increased  from  eight  hundred  dollars  to  one  thou- 
sand, and  a  corresponding  increase  was  made  in  the 
salary  of  the  president.  The  tutors'  salaries  re- 
mained as  they  had  been  for  a  few  years  previous, 
viz.,  four  hundred  and  fifty  dollars.  The  last  votes 
at  the  meeting,  one  or  two  of  mere  form  excepted, 
were  as  follows:  "Voted,  that  the  prudential  com- 
mittee be  directed,  in  view  of  the  urgent  necessities 
of  the  college,  to  apply  to  the  Legislature  of  this 
Commonwealth  at  their  next  session  for  pecuniary 
aid.  Voted,  that  should  the  application  to  the  Leg- 
islature fail  of  success,  or  should  it  be  deemed  by 
the  committee  inexpedient  to  make  such  application, 
the  prudential  committee  be  further  authorized  to 
adopt  any  such  measures  as  may  by  them  be  deemed 
expedient  for  procuring  aid  from  such  other  sources 
as  may  seem  to  promise  the  desired  relief. " 

The  number  of  students  at  the  close  of  the  period 
now  under  review,  that  is,  in  1836,  was  large,  and  the 
college  was  in  a  highly  prosperous  state.  The 
faculty  was  strong  and  popular,  the  standard  of 
scholarship,  culture,  and  conduct  was  high,  and  not 
a  few  of  the  most  distinguished  names  on  our  general 
catalogue  are  names  of  men  who  were  graduated 
during  these  years. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

PERIOD    OF    REACTION  AND  DECLINE THE  ANTI-SLAVERY 

AGITATION  AND  REBELLION  OF  STUDENTS — THREAT- 
ENED BANKRUPTCY PUBLIC  DISFAVOR — RESIGNA- 
TION OF  PRESIDENT  HUMPHREY. 

THE  largest  aggregate  number  of  students  that 
Amherst  College  enrolled  on  its  catalogue  at  any 
time  previous  to  1870-71  was  in  the  collegiate  year 
1836-37,  when  the  number  was  two  hundred  and  fifty- 
nine.  The  next  year,  1837-38,  it  had  fallen  to  two 
hundred  and  six,  and  so  it  continued  to  decrease  regu- 
larly, till  in  1845-46  it  was  reduced  to  one  hundred 
and  eighteen,  less  than  half  the  number  nine  years 
before. 

The  number  entering  college  began  to  diminish 
some  three  years  earlier.  The  largest  number  was 
in  1833-34,  when  there  were  eighty-five  freshmen, 
and  the  whole  number  of  admissions  was  one  hun- 
dred and  six.  The  next  year,  1834-35,  there  were 
seventy  freshmen,  and  the  whole  number  of  admis- 
sions was  ninety-nine.  From  this  time,  the  number 
entering  college  continued  to  decrease,  till  in  1843-44 
the  freshmen  numbered  only  thirty-two,  and  the 
whole  number  of  new  members  was  only  forty-two. 

Some  of  the  causes  which  produced  this  remarka- 
ble decline  are  sufficiently  obvious.  In  the  first 
place  it  was  doubtless  to  some  extent  a  natural  reac- 
tion from  the  equally  remarkable  and  almost  equally 
rapid  increase  of  numbers  in  the  previous  history  of 

86 


A    HISTORY    OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  8/ 

the  college.  As  the  tide  of  prosperity  had  risen 
very  fast  and  high,  so  it  sank  with  corresponding 
rapidity  to  a  proportionally  low  ebb.  The  growth 
had  been  unprecedented,  abnormal,  and  not  alto- 
gether healthy.  The  causes  which  produced  it  were 
in  part  temporary,  and  so  far  forth  the  effect  could 
not  be  enduring.  These  causes  had  not  indeed 
ceased  to  operate,  but  they  had  lost  in  a  measure 
their  pristine  power.  The  first  alarm,  excited  by 
the  defection  of  Harvard  College  and  the  churches 
in  that  section,  had  in  a  measure  subsided.  Zeal  for 
orthodoxy  and  evangelical  piety  was  no  longer  at  a 
white  heat.  The  passion  for  missions  and  the  edu- 
cation of  ministers  had  somewhat  cooled.  Revivals 
were  less  frequent  in  the  churches.  The  revivals 
which  marked  the  twenty  years  between  1815  and 
1835  had  given  birth  to  the  college,  and  nourished 
it  with  a  copious  supply  of  young  men  recently  con- 
verted and  full  of  zeal  for  the  work  of  the  ministry 
and  of  missions.  As  revivals  grew  less  frequent  and 
powerful,  one  of  the  principal  sources  of  the  pros- 
perity of  Amherst  College  began  to  fail. 

The  growth  of  the  institution  had  unavoidably 
changed  somewhat  its  relations  to  the  community 
around  it.  The  people  of  the  village  were  still 
friendly  to  the  college,  but  they  had  ceased  to  re- 
gard it  as  their  own  offspring  or  foster-child;  they 
could  no  longer  welcome  and  cherish  its  two  hundred 
and  fifty  students  as  pets  or  wards  in  their  own 
families;  the  halcyon  days  of  primitive  and  almost 
pastoral  simplicity,  when  their  apple-orchards  and 
walnut-groves,  their  parlors  and  firesides,  their 
homes  and  hearts  were  open  to  the  members  of  the 
7 


88  A   HISTORY    OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

college  generally,  almost  as  if  they  were  their  own 
sons,  had  gone  never  to  return.  Board  was  perhaps 
fifty  per  cent,  higher  than  it  was  at  the  opening  of 
the  college.  The  influx  of  wealthy  students,  by 
changing  the  tastes  and  habits  of  the  community, 
had  increased  in  a  still  greater  percentage  the  inci- 
dental and  unnecessary  expenses.  The  term-bills, 
including  tuition  and  room-rent,  which,  at  the  first, 
were  only  ten  or  eleven  dollars  per  term,  had  now 
risen  to  seventeen  dollars,  and  the  maximum  of  nec- 
essary college  expenses,  including  board,  fuel,  and 
lights,  which  in  1834  was  stated  in  the  catalogue  at 
ninety-six  dollars  a  year,  was  estimated  in  1837  at 
one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars.  This  was  still  con- 
siderably less  than  at  Harvard  or  Yale,  but  the  dif- 
ference was  less  than  it  formerly  was,  and  the  ex- 
penses at  Amherst  were  now  greater  than  they  were 
at  some  of  the  other  New  England  colleges.  Rela- 
tively the  economy  of  an  education  at  Amherst  was 
considerably  less  than  it  had  been,  and  economy  is 
no  small  argument,  especially  with  the  class  of  stu- 
dents who  flocked  to  Amherst  in  crowds  in  the  ear- 
lier years  of  its  history. 

A  still  more  important  change  had  gradually  come 
over  the  relations  between  the  students  and  the 
faculty.  The  circumstances  under  which  the  col- 
lege originated  made  its  officers  and  students  more 
like  one  great  family  than  they  were  in  the  older 
and  larger  institutions,  more  so  probably  than  they 
were  in  any  other  college.  The  government  was 
truly  a  paternal  government,  and  the  students  cher- 
ished a  remarkably  filial  spirit  toward  the  president 
and  professors.  But  when  Amherst  came  soon  to 


A   HISTORY    OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  89 

be  the  largest  college  in  New  England,  with  a  sin- 
gle exception,  when  it  contained  more  than  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  students  of  all  characters  and  habits, 
from  all  ranks  and  classes  of  the  community,  and 
from  all  parts  of  the  United  States,  it  was  no  longer 
practicable  to  maintain  so  familiar  and  confidential 
relations,  it  was  no  longer  possible  to  administer  the 
government  in  the  same  paternal  way,  it  was  no 
longer  possible  that  the  students  should  cherish  just 
the  same  filial  feeling  and  spirit  toward  the  faculty. 
The  men  who  composed  the  faculty  might  be  the 
same,  it  was  the  same  president  and  the  same  lead- 
ing older  professors,  under  whose  auspices  the  col- 
lege had  attained  so  soon  to  so  large  a  growth,  that 
were  now  administering  the  government  and  giving 
the  instruction;  yet  they  could  not  but  draw  the 
reins  a  little  tighter,  they  could  not  exercise  the 
same  personal  supervision,  the  same  fatherly  watch 
and  care  over  two  hundred  students  which  they  had 
extended  to  one  hundred.  They  were  not  the  same 
students,  they  were  not  of  the  same  age,  class  and 
condition  in  life ;  upon  an  average  they  were  younger 
and  richer  and  less  religious  when  they  entered  now 
than  they  were  ten  or  fifteen  years  earlier  in  the 
history  of  the  college;  but  even  if  they  had  been 
the  very  same  individual  students,  they  could  not 
come  so  near  to  their  officers,  nor  stand  in  the  same 
near  and  confidential  relations,  nor  cherish  quite  the 
same  feelings  of  personal  regard  and  affection,  as 
when  they  were  fewer  in  number  and  were  in  some 
sense  joint-founders  of  the  institution.  There  are 
evils,  difficulties,  and  dangers  inevitably  connected 
with  a  large  college,  as  there  are  with  a  large  board- 


90  A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

ing  school,  which  almost  preclude  the  possibility  of 
its  realizing  the  ideal  of  a  college,  or  doing  in  the  best 
way  its  whole  and  proper  work;  and  among  these 
the  wall  of  separation  which  rises  up  between  the 
faculty  and  the  students  is  not  the  least. 

Accidental  circumstances  about  this  time  contrib- 
uted to  widen  the  breach.  One  of  these  was  the 
anti-slavery  excitement.  This  affected  Amherst 
more  than  it  did  most  of  the  Eastern  colleges ;  for 
while  it  had  an  unusual  number  of  Southern  students 
between  1830  and  1840,*  it  had  also  a  larger  propor- 
tion than  most  of  the  colleges  of  that  class  of  stu- 
dents who  were  strongly,  and  some  of  them  violently, 
opposed  to  slavery.  It  was  during  this  decennary, 
as  our  readers  will  remember,  that  the  anti-slavery 
excitement,  which  temporarily  subsided  after  the 
Missouri  Compromise,  broke  out  with  fresh  violence 
and  agitated  the  whole  country.  The  "Liberator,11 
started  in  Boston  by  William  Lloyd  Garrison  for  the 
express  purpose  of  agitating  this  question,  was  es- 
tablished in  1831;  the  New  England  Anti-Slavery 
Society  (afterwards  the  Massachusetts)  in  1832,  and 
the  American  Anti-Slavery  Society  in  1833.  In  1834, 
George  Thompson  came  over  from  England  and  his 
clarion-like  voice  rang  through  the  land,  and  in 
1835  Mr.  Garrison  was  dragged  through  the  streets 
of  Boston  by  an  infuriated  mob  and  saved  from  a 
violent  death  only  by  incarceration  in  the  city  jail. 

1  Among  these  were  Benjamin  M.  Palmer  of  South  Carolina 
and  Stewart  Robinson  of  Virginia,  who  became  so  conspicuous 
in  the  history  of  the  late  war.  Mr.  Palmer  was  a  member  of 
the  class  of  '35,  but  graduated  prematurely  in  his  junior  year. 
Mr.  Robinson  graduated  with  honor  in  the  class  of  '36. 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST    COLLEGE.  9! 

Such  exciting  scenes  could  not  but  deeply  move  the 
feelings  of  young  men  in  our  colleges  and  profes- 
sional schools.  It  was  under  such  circumstances 
that  a  colonization  society  and  an  anti-slavery  so- 
ciety were  formed  among  the  students  at  Amherst, 
the  latter  in  the  summer  of  1833,  and  the  former  a 
short  time  previous,  perhaps  not  more  than  two  or 
three  weeks.  Thus  the  college  was  divided  as  it 
were  into  two  hostile  camps,  and  the  war  raged  as 
fiercely  between  these  opposing  forces  in  their  classic 
halls  as  that  between  the  Greeks  and  Trojans  of 
which  the  young  men  read  in  the  Iliad,  and  it  lasted 
quite  as  long  before  it  fully  came  to  an  end.  The  fac- 
ulty seeing  that  fellow-students,  and  even  Christian 
brethren,  were  thus  set  in  hostile  array  against  each 
other,  feeling  that  the  college  was  not  founded  to  be 
a  school  of  moral  or  political  reform,  and  fearing 
that  its  reputation  as  well  as  its  peace  and  pros- 
perity might  thus  be  endangered,  at  length  inter- 
posed, and  endeavored  to  persuade  the  members  of 
both  societies  to  dissolve  their  organizations.  The 
members  of  the  colonization  society  complied  with 
this  request.  The  members  of  the  anti-slavery  so- 
ciety returned  answer  that  they  could  not  conscien- 
tiously dissolve  the  society  by  their  own  act,  begged 
the  privilege  of  at  least  holding  the  monthly  concert 
of  prayer  for  the  slave,  and,  if  they  must  needs  dis- 
band, prayed  the  faculty  to  do  the  work  them- 
selves. The  faculty  consented  to  their  holding  the 
monthly  concert  of  prayer  and  the  continued  exis- 
tence of  the  anti-slavery  society  on  certain  condi- 
tions, but  after  protracted  deliberation  and  discus- 
sion the  members  of  the  society  decided  that  they 


92  A   HISTORY    OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

could  not  conscientiously  either  disband  the  society 
or  comply  with  the  conditions  for  its  continued  ex- 
istence. It  only  remained  for  the  president,  in  be- 
half of  the  faculty,  to  say  to  them:  "As  you  can- 
not comply  with  the  conditions,  your  society  must 
cease  to  exist." 

It  cannot  be  doubted  that  the  anti-slavery  excite- 
ment impaired  somewhat  the  confidence  and  affec- 
tion of  a  large  portion  of  the  students  (and  those  the 
most  ardent  and  earnest  students  of  the  college)  for 
the  faculty,  and  especially  alienated  some  of  the 
most  zealous  of  them  from  the  president,  who  was 
the  organ  of  communication,  and  was  regarded  as 
the  author  of  the  policy  that  was  pursued.1 

But  the  opposition  to  the  system  of  distinctive  and 
honorary  appointments  in  college,  which  sprang  up 
about  the  same  time,  lasted  longer  and  was  still 
more  unfortunate  in  its  influence.  As  early  as  1834, 
the  junior  class,  under  the  influence  of  the  dissatis- 
faction attendant  as  usual  on  the  appointments  for 
the  junior  exhibition,  petitioned  the  trustees  at 
their  annual  meeting  to  abolish  the  system.  Upon 
this  petition,  the  trustees  voted,  "  That  we  think  it 
inexpedient  to  make  any  alteration  at  present  on  the 
subject  of  said  communication,  but  we  recommend 
that  the  faculty  correspond  with  the  other  colleges  on 
this  subject  and  obtain  such  information  as  may  be 
communicated  for  such  improvement  hereafter  as 

1  The  an ti- slavery  men  of  this  period  were  under  the  im- 
pression, right  or  wrong,  that  the  sympathies  of  Professor 
Hitchcock  were  with  them,  although  the  act  of  suppression 
was  communicated  expressly  as  "the  unanimous  vote  of  the 
faculty." 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  93 

occasion  may  require."  At  their  annual  meeting  in 
1836,  a  petition  was  again  presented,  signed  by 
nearly,  if  not  quite,  all  the  members  of  the  three 
upper  classes,  asking  for  the  abolition  "  of  the  pres- 
ent system  of  appointments  in  this  institution,"  and 
suggesting,  instead,  that  "such  a  division  and  ar- 
rangement be  made  that  all  may  have  parts  assigned 
them,  and  alike  enjoy  the  benefits  arising  from  such 
performances,"  or  that  "each  of  the  three  literary 
societies  in  college  should  be  permitted  to  have  an 
annual  exhibition."1  The  action  of  the  trustees 
upon  this  petition  is  thus  entered  on  their  records : 
"A  petition  having  been  presented  to  this  board 
signed  by  numerous  members  of  Amherst  College, 
praying  for  the  abolition  of  the  system  of  appoint- 
ments adopted  in  this  college,  Voted,  that  this 
board  deem  it  inexpedient  to  make  any  change  at 
present  in  the  system  provided  for  by  the  college  laws 
on  this  subject." 

Meanwhile  the  faculty  began  to  be  besieged  by 
petitions  from  individual  students  asking  to  be  ex- 
cused from  performing  the  parts  assigned  them  on 
the  ground  of  conscientious  opposition  to  the  system 
of  honorary  distinctions,  and  for  a  time  the  fac- 
ulty granted  these  requests.  At  length  it  became 
apparent  that  there  was,  if  not  a  conspiracy,  a  set 
purpose  on  the  part  of  many  students,  some  of  them 

1  This  petition  is  preserved  in  the  college  librar)'.  It  is  an 
immense  document  some  five  feet  long  and  a  foot  and  a  half 
wide,  bearing  in  bold  and  large  hand  the  autograph  signatures 
of  men  now  distinguished  in  every  walk  of  life,  and  remind- 
ing the  reader  in  more  ways  than  one  of  the  original  Declara- 
tion of  Independence. 


94  A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST    COLLEGE. 

perhaps  really  conscientious,  but  others  manifestly 
only  disappointed  in  their  own  appointments,  or 
otherwise  disaffected,  to  break  down  the  system,  and 
that  if  they  would  have  any  exhibitions  or  commence- 
ments, they  must  insist  upon  the  performance  of  the 
parts  assigned  for  public  occasions  with  the  same  firm- 
ness and  on  the  same  principles  as  they  required  the 
recitation  of  lessons  or  the  performance  of  any  other 
assigned  duty.  They  therefore  declined  to  excuse  ap- 
pointees simply  on  the  ground  of  conscientious  scru- 
ples without  the  assignment  of  some  other  reasons. 

Among  those  who  were  excused  in  the  summer  of 
1835  was  one  who  had  been  appointed  one  of  the 
prize  speakers  from  the  freshmen,  and  having  re- 
quested to  be  excused  "on  grounds  of  conscience," 
his  request  was  granted.  Two  years  later,  the  same 
student  received  an  appointment  for  the  junior  ex- 
hibition. Instead  of  performing  the  part  assigned 
him,  he  sent  in  a  paper  to  the  faculty,  in  which  he 
not  only  refused  to  perform,  but  expressed  his  refusal 
in  disrespectful  language,  and  .after  an  ineffectual 
effort  by  the  president  to  obtain  a  retraction,  the 
faculty  voted  to  require  of  him  a  written  acknowl- 
edgment, under  penalty,  if  he  refused,  of  being  re- 
moved from  college. 

The  student  refused  to  make  the  required  acknowl- 
edgment, and  was  accordingly  removed  from  college. 

The   entire   class,  with  a  single   exception,1  now 

1  David  N.  Coburn  of  Thompson,  Conn.,  later  Rev.  Mr. 
Coburn  of  Monson,  Massachusetts.  At  least  one  other  mem- 
ber of  the  class,  I  believe,  was  not  at  college  at  the  time  and 
took  no  part  in  these  transactions,  viz.  Edward  Blodgett  of 
Amherst,  now  Rev.  Mr.  Blodgett  of  Greenwich. 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  95 

rallied  to  the  support  of  their  classmate  and  joined 
issue  with  the  faculty  by  passing  the  following 
resolution  and  sending  to  Gorham's  friends  a  letter 
to  the  same  effect  : 

"Resolved  by  the  junior  class,  June  24,  1837,  that 
in  our  opinion  William  O.  Gorham  has  made  every 
concession  which  duty  and  justice  require,  and  in 
refusing  to  concede  more  we  heartily  approve  of  his 
.principles. " 

The  next  morning  this  resolution  was  found  writ- 
ten or  painted  on  the  wall  in  front  of  the  chapel, 
where  it  was  read  by  all  the  students  as  they  went 
in  to  morning  prayers.  The  faculty  were  soon 
called  together  to  consult  in  this  emergency.  They 
felt  deeply  that  it  was  a  solemn  crisis  for  them- 
selves and  for  the  college.  They  began  their  consul- 
tation by  asking  counsel  of  God  in  prayer.  After 
much  anxious  deliberation  they  came  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  such  action  by  a  class  in  college  was  sub- 
versive of  all  government,  and  that  they  must  meet 
the  issue  with  firmness  or  resign  the  helm  into  the 
hands  of  students.  They  therefore  "  voted  to  re- 
quire a  confession  of  all  the  members  of  the  junior 
class  who  have  taken  measures  inconsistent  with  their 
obligations  to  obey  the  laws  of  college."  The  con- 
fession is  in  the  following  words: 

"  It  being  an  acknowledged  principle  that  no  stu- 
dent who  is  permitted  to  enjoy  the  privileges  of  a 
public  literary  institution,  and  who  has  promised 
obedience  to  its  laws,  has  a  right  to  do  anything  to 
weaken  the  hands  of  its  faculty  or  in  any  way  to 
nullify  any  of  their  disciplinary  acts,  I  deeply  regret 
that  I  did,  without  due  consideration,  vote  for  areso- 


96  A    HISTORY   OF   AMHERST    COLLEGE. 

lution  and  sign  a  paper  which  tended  to  both  these 
results;  and  I  hereby  promise  to  abstain  from  all 
similar  interference  in  the  government  of  Amherst 
College." 

The  class  hesitated  and  delayed,  and  it  seemed  for 
a  time  as  if  the  whole  class  would  refuse  to  sign  the 
paper  and  be  sent  away.  But  by  the  interposition 
of  Gorham's  friends,  who  were  also  friends  of  the 
college,  he  was  induced  to  sign  the  confession  re- 
quired of  him  with  a  trifling  verbal  alteration,  and 
then  his  classmates  promptly  followed  suit  and 
signed  the  acknowledgment  and  promise  required 
of  them. 

But  the  effect  on  the  college  was  immediately  dis- 
astrous. From  this  time,  class  after  class  went  out 
with  more  or  less  of  the  spirit  of  disaffection  and 
spread  it  through  the  community.  Year  after  year 
too  many  of  the  graduates  went  forth,  not  to  invite 
and  attract  students,  but  to  turn  them  away  by  re- 
porting that  the  government  was  arbitrary,  the 
president  stern,  severe,  unsympathizing,  unprogres- 
sive,  and  even  in  his  dotage, — although,  as  Dr.  Hitch- 
cock remarks,1  his  subsequent  history  shows  that  he 
was  as  well  qualified,  physically,  intellectually,  and 
spiritually,  as  he  had  ever  been  for  the  place, — and 
the  professors,  some  of  them  at  least,  incapable,  un- 
popular, and  unfit  for  the  office,  although  the  work 
of  instruction  was  never  more  ably  or  faithfully, 
never  so  assiduously  and  laboriously  performed  as 
at  this  very  time. 

The  president  was  the  self-same  man  under  whose 

1  Reminiscences  of  Amherst  College,  p.  124. 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  97 

wise  and  able  administration  the  college  had  risen 
to  such  unexampled  prosperity.  The  professors 
were,  for  the  most  part,  the  same  men  under  whose 
government  and  instruction  the  Institution  had  pre- 
viously prospered,  who,  when  the  tide  turned  after- 
wards, were  as  popular  as  it  often  falls  to  the  lot  of 
faithful  professors  to  be,  and  whose  lives  have  be- 
come identified  with  the  history  of  the  college.  It 
is  not  necessary  to  mention  their  names.  The 
tutors  of  this  period  were  some  of  the  best  scholars 
that  have  ever  been  graduated  here.  Not  a  few  of 
them  have  since  become  distinguished  as  educators, 
authors,  men  of  science,  eloquent  preachers,  and  able 
jurists.  Six  of  them  have  been  professors  in  this 
and  other  institutions,  viz.,  Charles  B.  Adams, 
Thomas  P.  Field,  John  Humphrey,  William  A.  Pea- 
body,  Roswell  D.  Hitchcock,  and  George  B.  Jewett. 
It  was  during  this  period  that  the  Graeca  Majora 
was  dropped  from  the  curriculum,  and  Homer, 
Demosthenes,  and  the  tragic  poets  began  to  be  read 
continuously  as  entire  books  instead  of  extracts, 
and  the  Greek  and  Latin  languages  were  for  the  first 
time  taught  analytically  in  their  relation  to  each 
other  and  their  cognate  tongues  and  in  the  light  of 
comparative  philology.  At  this  time,  to  wit,  in 
1837-38,  the  whole  system  of  monitorial  duties,  ex- 
cuses for  absence,  marks  for  merit  and  demerit,  the 
merit  roll,  reports  to  parents,  punishment  of  de- 
linquents and  honorary  appointments,  was  revised, 
reformed,  methodized,  made  at  once  more  just  and 
more  efficient,  and  those  principles  and  rules  estab- 
lished which,  not  without  amendment  of  course,  but 
substantially,  have  regulated  the  practice  of  the 


98  A   HISTORY   OF  AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

college  in  this  important  matter  ever  since.  A  cir- 
cular letter  was  also  prepared  and  sent  to  the  parents 
of  freshmen  and  other  new  students,  which  ex- 
plained the  temptations  and  dangers  of  college  life, 
invited  the  co-operation  of  parents  and  friends,  and 
thus  contributed  much  towards  a  better  understand- 
ing among  all  the  parties  concerned  in  the  education 
and  training  of  the  college.  Such  a  letter  continued 
to  be  sent  with  good  effect  for  many  years  after  the 
emergency  out  of  which  it  sprang  had  passed  away. 
About  the  same  time,  a  course  of  general  lectures  in 
the  chapel  on  study,  reading,  literature,  and  college 
life  was  inaugurated,  in  which  all  the  faculty  in 
rotation  bore  a  part,  and  which  proved  highly  ac- 
ceptable as  well  as  useful  to  the  students.  In  short, 
necessity  proved  the  mother  of  invention  and  sharp- 
ened the  wits  of  the  faculty  to  discover  and  apply 
many  new  ways  and  means  of  promoting  the  welfare 
of  the  students,  and,  if  possible,  the  prosperity  of  the 
college.  These  efforts,  it  is  believed,  were  appreci- 
ated by  the  undergraduates,  and  they  were  quite 
contented  and  satisfied  with  the  government  and  in- 
struction of  the  college.  But  the  spirit  of  disaffec- 
tion was  still  spreading  among  the  alumni,  infecting 
some  of  the  older  as  well  as  the  younger  graduates, 
and  extending  through  the  community;  and  the 
number  of  students  still  continued  to  decrease. 

At  length  the  feeling  of  discontent  and  dissatis- 
faction began  to  find  expression  through  the  press. 
The  causes  of  the  decline  of  the  college  were  dis- 
cussed in  newspapers  and  pamphlets,  and  writers 
who  were  confessedly  graduates  and  professedly 
friends  of  the  institution,  published  to  the  world 


A   HISTORY   OF  AMHERST   COLLEGE.  99 

that  the  alumni  were  dissatisfied  with  the  manage- 
ment of  the  college,  and  it  never  would  prosper  with- 
out a  thorough  reform,  not  to  say  a  complete  revolu- 
tion. Those  were  dark  days  for  Amherst  College — 
days  of  cruel  trial  and  suffering  for  its  officers.  The 
trial  of  living  on  a  half-salary  a  few  years  later  was 
nothing  in  comparison.  Some  of  them  carried  the 
sting  of  it  to  their  dying  day,  and  it  still  lingers  in 
the  memory  of  the  survivors. 

If  the  college  had  been  rich  and  independent,  it 
might  have  borne  this  trial.  Indeed,  if  the  college 
had  been  independent,  it  would  have  been  saved  the 
greater  part  of  the  trial,  for  complaints  would  then 
have  been  in  a  great  measure  silenced,  and  disaffec- 
tion nipped  in  the  bud.  But  "  the  destruction  of  the 
poor  is  their  poverty."  Poverty  increased  the  disaf- 
fection itself  as  well  as  sharpened  the  sting  of  it, 
and  the  disaffection,  by  diminishing  the  number  of 
students,  increased  the  poverty  of  the  college.  For 
it  had  not  at  this  time  a  single  dollar  of  endowment,1 
and  no  college,  however  large  or  prosperous,  re- 
ceives for  tuition  one-half  of  what  it  costs.  The 
two  subscriptions  which  had  already  been  raised, 
the  one  of  thirty  thousand  and  the  other  fifty  thou- 
sand dollars,  were"  immediately  exhausted  in  the 
payment  of  debts  and  other  unavoidable  expenses. 
The  college  was,  therefore,  actually  running  in  debt 
at  the  time  of  its  largest  prosperity,  and  the  debt 
went  on  increasing  as  the  number  of  students  con- 
tinued to  diminish,  till  the  outgoes  exceeded  the  in- 
come by  fully  four  thousand  dollars  a  year. 

1  The  Charity  Fund  went  wholly  for  the  support  of  benefi- 
ciaries. 


100         A    HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

Application  was  made  to  the  Legislature  for  pecun- 
iary aid  in  three  successive  years,  viz.,  1837,  1838, 
and  1839.  In  each  instance  a  joint  committee  of  both 
houses  reported  strongly  in  favor  of  the  college,  and 
recommended  in  1837  a  grant  of  twenty-five  thousand 
dollars  in  ten  annual  instalments,  in  1838  a  grant 
of  fifty  thousand  dollars,  and  in  1839  a  reference  to 
the  next  Legislature  on  the  ground  that  there  were 
then  no  funds  in  the  treasury. 

In  1837  and  1838  the  bill  failed,  both  years  in  the 
House,  being  rejected  in  the  latter  year  by  a  vote 
of  154  nays  to  132  yeas.  It  is  worthy  of  note,  as 
illustrating  the  change  of  public  sentiment  in  Hamp- 
shire County  in  comparison  with  former  Legisla- 
tures, that  only  one  negative  vote  was  now  cast  in 
the  whole  county.  In  1839  the  petition  was  referred 
to  the  next  Legislature  as  recommended  by  the  com- 
mittee. 

Despairing  of  aid  from  the  state,  the  trustees  soon 
conceived  the  project  of  raising  one  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars  by  private  subscription.  This  was 
thought  to  be  the  smallest  sum  that  would  relieve 
the  college  of  existing  embarrassments  and  leave  a 
balance  for  endowments  sufficient  to  make  the  in- 
come equal  to  expenditures.  Rev.  William  Tyler, 
of  South  Hadley  Falls,  was  first  appointed  an  agent 
for  obtaining  subscriptions,  and  by  his  labors  at 
different  times  during  the  years  1839  and  1840  some 
four  or  five  thousand  dollars  were  raised,  chiefly  in 
Amherst.  At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  trustees  in 
the  latter  year,  it  being  thought  that  the  shortening 
of  the  winter  vacation  had  operated  unfavorably  by 
keeping  away  that  class  of  students  who  were  neces- 


u  JN  x  v  XJ.TI          i  / 


A    HISTORY    OF   AMHERST    COLLEGE.  IOI 

sitated  to  help  themselves  by  teaching,  the  vacations 
were  changed  back  again  to  six  weeks  in  the  winter, 
two  in  the  spring,  and  four  in  the  summer,  the  Com- 
mencement, however,  being  placed  on  the  fourth 
Thursday  of  July  instead  of  the  fourth  Wednesday  of 
August.  But  the  number  of  students  still  continued 
to  diminish. 

In  1841  the  eyes  of  all  turned  to  Rev.  Joseph 
Vaill,  who  had  already  proved  himself  a  firm  support 
and  a  successful  agent  of  the  college  in  more  than 
one  emergency,  as  the  only  person  who  could  success- 
fully perform  the  herculean  labor  of  raising  the  money 
which  was  indispensable  to  its  very  existence.  He 
accepted  the  office  of  general  agent  to  which  he  had 
been  invited  by  the  trustees  at  their  annual  meeting 
in  1841,  with  the  same  salary  as  the  professors,  was 
dismissed  from  his  pastoral  charge,  removed  to  Am- 
herst,  and  for  nearly  four  years  devoted  himself  to 
unwearied  labors  and  plans  for  the  external  affairs 
and  especially  the  pecuniary  interests  of  the  college. 
In  August,  1845,  he  was  able  to  report  subscriptions, 
conditional  and  unconditional,  to  the  amount  of 
sixty-seven  thousand  dollars,  of  which  over  fifty-one 
thousand  dollars  had  been  collected  by  himself  and 
paid  into  the  treasury.  By  reckoning  in  ten  thou- 
sand dollars,  given  during  this  time  by  David  Sears, 
eleven  thousand  dollars  known  by  him  to  have  been 
bequeathed  by  will  to  the  college  during  the  same 
time,  and  fifteen  thousand  dollars  which  he  had  the 
written  assurance  of  an  individual's  "full  intention" 
to  pay  for  the  founding  of  a  professorship,  the  sum 
of  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  was  made  up,  and 
this  statement  was  so  far  satisfactory  to  the  subscrib- 


102         A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

ers  that  the  majority  of  those  whose  subscriptions 
had  been  conditioned  on  the  raising  of  the  entire 
sum  of  one  hundred  thousand  dollars,  now  made  them 
unconditional. 

But  deduct  from  the  fifty-one  thousand  dollars 
which  had  been  actually  paid  into  the  treasury  by 
Mr.  Vaill  at  the  close  of  his  agency  in  1845,  the  debt 
which  was  reported  to  the  Legislature  as  fifteen 
thousand  dollars  in  1838,*  the  excess  of  the  outgoes 
above  the  income  in  the  interval  of  seven  years  at 
the  rate  of  three  or  four  thousand  dollars  a  year,  and 
the  salary  and  expenses  of  the  agent,  which  exceeded 
four  thousand  dollars,  and  it  will  be  seen  that  very 
little  remained  for  endowments  or  even  to  counter- 
balance a  future  excess  of  expenses.  And  yet  the 
annual  expenses  far  exceeded  the  annual  income, 
and  the  number  of  students  still  continued  to  dimin- 
ish. Things  could  not  long  go  on  in  this  way.  To 
raise  money  by  subscription  was  only  to  throw  it 
into  a  bottomless  morass  which  must  after  all  before 
long  swallow  up  the  institution.  This  was  palpable 
to  all  eyes,  and  was  uttered  from  the  lips  of  many. 
The  trustees  felt  it.  They  chose  a  standing  com- 
mittee of  retrenchment.  They  reduced  the  number 
of  tutors,  formerly  four,  to  one.  With  their  con- 
sent, they  deducted  one  hundred  dollars  each  from 
the  salary  of  the  President  and  the  general  agent, 
and  two  hundred  from  that  of  each  of  the  .professors. 
But  all  this  was  quite  inadequate.  The  college  still 
continued  to  flounder  and  sink  deeper  in  the  mire. 
The  general  agent  at  length  saw  that  the  only  ade- 

1  Twelve  thousand  dollars  in  1839.  No  one  seems  to  have 
known  just  what  it  was. 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  103 

quate  remedy  was  to  bring  the  expenses  within  the 
revenue ;  and  he  laid  before  the  faculty  the  sugges- 
tion, with  an  outline  of  the  plan,  which  was  adopted 
by  them  and  ere  long  turned  the  tide  in  the  opposite 
direction. 

But  before  this  remedy  was  tried  or,  perhaps, 
thought  of,  the  clamor  had  become  loud  and  distinct 
among  the  alumni  and  in  the  community  for  changes 
in  the  faculty,  and  a  change  of  administration.  The 
first  officer  who  was  sacrificed  was  Professor  Fowler, 
a  gentleman  of  much  learning  and  many  accom- 
plishments, but  "unpopular,"  and,  as  the  students 
said,  who  certainly  had  the  means  of  testing  his 
capacity  in  this  respect,  unable  to  maintain  order  in 
his  lectures,  recitations,  and  rhetorical  exercises. 
Under  the  double  pressure  of  the  clamor  of  graduates 
and  the  complaints  of  undergraduates,  he  resigned 
his  professorship  to  the  trustees,  at  a  special  meet- 
ing in  December,  1842. 

But  this  did  not  appease  the  clamor  or  meet  the 
emergency.  A  more  shining  mark  was  aimed  at. 
A  more  costly  sacrifice  was  demanded.  And  at  a 
special  meeting  of  the  corporation  in  Worcester,  in 
January,  1844,  with  the  trustees  all  present,  under 
the  pressure  of  the  emergency,  and  doubtless  in  an- 
ticipation of  the  event,  President  Humphrey,  in  a 
letter  which  shows  his  rare  magnanimity  and  self- 
sacrificing  devotion  to  the  "  beloved  institution  with 
which  he  had  been  so  long  connected,"  tendered  his 
resignation,  to  take  effect  whenever  his  successor 
should  be  ready  to  enter  upon  the  office. 

The  trustees,  constrained  by  a  felt  necessity  and 
doubtless  with  sorrowing  hearts,  accepted  the  resig- 


104         A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

nation,  and  through  a  committee  consisting  of  Mr. 
Calhoun,  Dr.  Nelson,  and  Dr.  Alden,  returned  the 
following  answer: 

"  Resolved,  as  the  unanimous  sense  of  this  board, 
That  Dr.  Humphrey  retires  from  the  presidency  of  the 
college  with  our  sincere  respect  and  affection,  which 
have  been  steadily  increasing  from  the  commence- 
ment of  our  mutual  intercourse ;  that  we  express  to 
him  our  gratitude  for  his  invaluable  services- as  the 
head  of  this  institution,  our  highest  regard  for  his 
character  as  a  successful  teacher,  a  faithful  pastor, 
and  a  single-hearted  Christian ;  that  our  prayers  will 
accompany  him,  that  his  rich  intellectual  resources 
and  his  humble  piety  may  still  be  devoted  for  years 
to  come,  as  they  have  been  for  years  past,  to  the 
welfare  of  his  fellow-men ;  and  that  we  invoke  upon 
him  the  continued  favor  and  blessing  of  Heaven. 

"  Resolved,  That  one  thousand  dollars  be  presented 
to  Dr.  Humphrey  on  his  retirement,  in  addition  to 
his  regular  salary. " 

The  first  gleam  of  sunshine  from  without  which 
had  rested  upon  the  college  for  several  years,  dawned 
upon  it  in  the  darkness  and  sorrow  of  this  meeting  at 
Worcester,  in  the  donation  of  ten  thousand  dollars  by 
Hon.  David  Sears  of  Boston,  which  was  the  begin- 
ning  of  his  munificent  "  Foundation  of  Literature 
and  Benevolence,"  and  not  only  the  largest  donation, 
but  the  first  donation  of  any  considerable  magnitude 
that  had  ever  been  given  at  once  by  a  single  indi- 
vidual. 

But  the  college  was  not  yet  lifted  out  of  the  mire. 
That  was  to  be  the  result  of  many  years  of  wise  and 
patient  self-denial  and  labor.  Two  vacancies  in  the 


.       A    HISTORY    OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  IO5 

faculty  had  at  length  been  created.  Now  began  the 
more  difficult  task  of  filling  them.  At  the  same 
meeting  in  Worcester  at  which  they  had  accepted  the 
resignation  of  Dr.  Humphrey,  the  trustees  chose  Prof. 
E.  A.  Park,  of  Andover,  president,  and  reappointed 
Rev.  J.  B.  Condi t,  of  Portland,  professor  of  rhetoric 
and  oratory,  together  with  the  pastoral  charge  of 
the  college  church.  But  both  of  these  gentlemen 
declined  their  appointments.  At  the  next  annual 
meeting  in  August,  1844,  the  trustees  chose  Rev. 
Prof.  George  Shepard,  of  Bangor,  president,  and 
Rev.  Jonathan  Leavitt,  of  Providence,  professor  of 
rhetoric  and  oratory,  together  with  the  pastoral 
charge  of  the  college  church.  Professor  Shepard 
declined  the  presidency.  Rev.  Mr.  Leavitt  so  far 
accepted  the  professorship  as  to  call  a  council  to  con- 
sider the  question  of  his  dismission;  but  the  council 
declined  to  dismiss  him  simply  because  he  did  not 
press  it,  and  it  was  generally  understood  that  he  did 
not  press  it  because  on  visiting  Amherst  his  heart 
failed  him  in  view  of  the  difficulties  which  beset  the 
college. 

At  this  meeting,  Hon.  William  B.  Banister  and 
Hon.  Alfred  D.  Foster  resigned  their  places  as  mem- 
bers of  the  board.  Henry  Edwards,  Esq.,  of  Boston 
was  elected  in  the  place  of  Mr.  Banister.  At  the 
urgent  request  of  the  board,  Mr.  Foster  consented 
to  withdraw  his  resignation.  But  a  correspondence 
with  Rev.  Mr.  Vaill  about  this  time,  and  his  conver- 
sations at  a  later  day  with  Professor  Hitchcock,  show 
that  he  had  little  hope  that  the  college  could  be 
maintained  as  anything  more  than  an  academy. 

At  a  special  meeting  of  the  corporation  in  Amherst 


IO6         A   HISTORY   OF  AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

in  November,  Rev.  Aaron  Warner  was  elected  pro- 
fessor of  rhetoric  and  oratory,  with  a  salary  of  one 
thousand  dollars. 

At  another  special  meeting  at  Amherst  in  Decem- 
ber, the  professors  laid  before  the  trustees  the  propo- 
sition, suggested  probably  by  Mr.  Vaill,  that  they 
would  accept  the  income  of  the  college,  be  the  same 
more  or  less,  in  place  of  their  salaries,  and  pay  out 
of  it  also  all  the  necessary  running  expenses  of  the 
college,  on  condition  that  they  be  allowed  to  regu- 
late these  expenses  and  run  the  college,  and  with  the 
understanding  that  the  agency  for  the  solicitation  of 
funds  should  cease,  and  with  the  expectation  that 
Professor  Hitchcock  would  be  appointed  president. 
The  trustees  accepted  the  proposition  of  the  faculty 
as  modified  and  set  forth  by  themselves,  and  on  this 
basis  they  elected  Rev.  Edward  Hitchcock,  LL.D., 
president  and  professor  of  natural  theology  and 
geology.  In  order  to  provide  for  the  partial  va- 
cancy thus  created  in  Professor  Hitchcock's  depart- 
ment, they  at  the  same  time  elected  Prof.  Charles 
U.  Shepard,  of  New  Haven,  professor  of  chemistry 
and  natural  history,  "to  take  effect  provided  Pro- 
fessor Hitchcock  accepts  the  presidency." 

These  appointments  were  all  accepted,  and  on  the 
1 4th  of  April,  1845,  the  president-elect  was  inducted 
into  his  office,  the  retiring  president,  at  the  request 
of  the  trustees,  performing  the  ceremony  of  induc- 
tion and  in  due  form  handing  over  the  keys  to  his 
successor,  the  former  having  previously  delivered  a 
farewell  address,  and  the  latter  following  with  his 
inaugural.  It  would  have  been  the  personal  prefer- 
ence of  Dr.  Humphrey  to  continue  in  office  till  com- 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  IO/ 

mencement,  and  thus  at  the  close  of  the  year  and 
amid  the  concourse  of  alumni  and  friends  usually 
convened  on  that  occasion,  to  take  leave  of  his  "  be- 
loved college"  and  her  sons,  so  many  of  whom  loved 
and  honored  him  as  a  father.  But  it  was  thought  by 
friends  of  the  "  new  departure"  that  the  delay  might 
embarrass  the  financial  arrangement,  and  perhaps 
affect  unfavorably  the  incoming  class.  And  with 
characteristic  magnanimity  and  self-abnegation,  he 
hastened  to  put  off  the  robes  of  office  and  with  his 
own  hands  to  put  them  upon  his  successor.  In  his 
farewell  address  he  says:  "The  period  having  ar- 
rived, when,  by  the  conditions  of  my  resignation,  I 
am  to  retire  from  the  responsible  post  which  I  have 
occupied  for  twenty-two  years,  it  was  my  wish  si- 
lently to  withdraw  with  many  thanksgivings  to 
God  for  his  smiles  upon  the  institution  with  which 
I  have  been  so  long  connected,  and  fervent  supplica- 
tions for  its  future  prosperity.  But  having  been 
kindly  and  somewhat  earnestly  requested,  by  the 
standing  committee  of  the  board,  to  prepare  an  ad- 
dress for  the  present  occasion,  I  have  allowed  myself 
to  be  overruled,  I  hope  not  for  the  first  time,  by  a  sense 
of  public  duty.  It  has  been  a  maxim  with  me  for  more 
than  forty  years,  that  every  man  is  bound  to  avail  him- 
self of  all  such  opportunities  for  doing  good  as  Provi- 
dence may  afford  him,  with  but  a  subordinate 
regard  to  his  own  personal  feelings  or  convenience." 
He  then  proceeds  to  narrate  concisely  the  history 
of  the  college  from  the  beginning,  especially  its 
religious  history,  insisting  with  great  earnestness 
and  eloquence,  as  he  did  in  his  inaugural,  on  a 
truly  Christian  education  in  truly  Christian  col- 


108         A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

leges  as  the  hope  of  the  country,  the  church,  and  the 
world,  and  closes  with  devout  aspirations,  with  almost 
apostolic  benedictions  on  the  college  and  its  beloved 
church,  its  honored  trustees  and  guardians,  his  re- 
spected and  beloved  associates  in  the  immediate  gov- 
ernment and  instruction,  the  beloved  youth  over 
whose  morals,  health,  and  education  it  had  been  his 
endeavor  to  watch  with  paternal  solicitude,  and  the 
esteemed  friend  and  brother  to  whom  he  resigned  the 
chair,  and  with  whom  he  had  been  so  long  and  so 
happily  associated.  There  is  an  almost  tragic 
pathos  and  sublimity  in  these  valedictory  words  and 
last  acts  in  the  public  life  of  this  great  and  good 
man.  Few  scenes  in  history,  or  the  drama  even, 
have  in  them  more  of  the  moral  sublime.  The 
sympathizing  spectators  hardly  knew  whether  to 
weep  over  the  sad  necessities  which  environed  the 
close  of  his  administration  or  to  admire  and  rejoice 
in  the  moral  grandeur  and  Christian  heroism  of  the 
man.  And  the  feelings  of  the  writer  in  narrating 
these  events  have  been  somewhat  the  same  as  those 
with  which  the  disciples  of  Socrates  listened  to  his 
last  conversations,  as  Plato  describes  them  in  the 
Phaedon,  "  feelings  not  of  pity,  for  they  thought  him 
more  to  be  envied  than  pitied,  nor  yet  of  pleasure, 
such  as  they  usually  experienced  when  listening  to 
his  philosophical  discourses,  but  a  wonderful  sort  of 
emotion,  a  strange  mixture  of  pleasure  and  grief, 
and  a  singular  union  and  succession  of  smiles  and 
tears." 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 


CHAPTER  VII. 

PRESIDENCY  OF  DR.  HITCHCOCK — THE  FACULTY  MAN- 
AGE THE  FINANCES — FIRST  FOUNDATIONS  FOR  PRO- 
FESSORSHIPS— NEW  BUILDINGS RESTORED  PROSPER- 
ITY— DR.  HITCHCOCK'S  CHARACTER. 

THE  presidency  of  Dr.  Hitchcock  opened  with  au- 
spicious omens.  The  donation  of  Hon.  David  Sears, 
made  the  previous  year  (1844),  was  now  just  begin- 
ning to  manifest  its  benignant  influence,  and,  being 
the  first  large  gift  by  an  individual  donor  for  the  pur- 
pose of  an  endowment,  gave  promise  of  other  dona- 
tions for  like  purposes.  On  the  very  day  of  the  new 
president's  inauguration,  Hon.  Samuel  Williston  of 
Easthampton,  by  a  donation  of  twenty  thousand  dol- 
lars, founded  the  Williston  professorship  of  rhetoric 
and  oratory.  The  plan  for  preventing  any  further 
increase  of  the  debt  which  was  formed  before  the 
retirement  of  President  Humphrey,  but  was  condi- 
tioned on  the  election  of  Dr.  Hitchcock  to  the  presi- 
dency, having  received  the  sanction  of  the  trustees 
and  the  written  assent  and  co-operation  of  all  the 
professors,  went  into  effect  at  the  commencement  of 
the  new  administration.  According  to  this  plan,  the 
income  of  the  college,  administered  and  appropri- 
ated by  the  permanent  officers  themselves  with  all 
the  wisdom  and  economy  of  which  they  were  mas- 
ters, after  deducting  all  the  necessary  current  ex- 

loq 


110         A   HISTORY   OF  AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

penses,  was  divided  among  them  as  their  salary  and 
means  of  support.  This,  while  it  ensured  economy 
and  inspired  courage  at  home,  enlisted  sympathy 
and  restored  confidence  abroad;  and  a  series  of 
measures  followed  which,  during  the  less  than  ten 
years  of  Dr.  Hitchcock's  presidency,  extinguished 
the  debt,  added  an  astronomical  observatory,  a 
library,  and  two  cabinets  of  natural  history  to  the 
public  buildings,  secured  the  permanent  endow- 
ment of  four  professorships,  together  with  valuable 
books  and  immense  scientific  collections,  and  doub- 
led the  number  of  undergraduates. 

These  remarkable  results,  however,  were  not  to  be 
reached  at  once,  nor  without  a  previous  season  of 
trial  and  struggle,  of  disappointment  and  discourage- 
ment. The  immediate  increase  of  numbers  which 
was  anticipated  from  a  change  of  administration 
was  not  realized.  On  the  contrary,  the  year  1845-46, 
which  was  the  first  collegiate  year  of  the  new  presi- 
dency, opened  with  the  same  number  of  freshmen  as 
the  previous  year,  and  with  an  aggregate  of  one 
hundred  and  eighteen  students  instead  of  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty-one.  In  1846-47,  the  aggregate  was 
only  one  hundred  and  twenty,  and  there  was  an  in- 
crease of  only  one  in  the  freshman  class.  Mean- 
while there  was  no  further  addition  to  the  funds, 
and  the  president  was  receiving  for  his  salary  at  the 
rate  of  five  hundred  and  fifty  dollars,  and  each  pro- 
fessor at  the  rate  of  four  hundred  and  forty  dollars  a 
year.  One  at  least  of  the  trustees  (one  of  the  wisest 
and  most  honored,  though  not  the  most  hopeful  and 
courageous)  was  still  doubtful  whether  it  would  not 
be  wiser  to  turn  the  college  into  an  academy  (for  a 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  Ill 

good  academy  was  better  than  a  poor  college) ;  and 
what  was  still  more  discouraging  and  even  alarming, 
some  of  the  most  influential  students  were  so  doubt- 
ful of  the  perpetuity  of  the  institution  that  nothing 
but  the  personal  solicitation  of  the  president  in- 
duced them  to  stay  and  graduate.  No  wonder  if, 
under  such  circumstances,  the  president  and  profes- 
sors were  sometimes  desponding,  and  the  very  lights 
sometimes  seemed  to  burn  blue  at  our  faculty 
meetings ! 

We  now  resume  the  general  history  of  the  college. 

Being  in  Cambridge  at  the  inauguration  of  Presi- 
dent Everett  in  January,  1846,  Dr.  Hitchcock  im- 
proved the  opportunity  to  call  on  Mr.  Sears,  in  the 
hope  of  inducing  him  to  erect  a  building  for  scien- 
tific purposes,  which  was  greatly  needed.  But  he 
met  with  so  little  encouragement  that  he  told  Hon. 
Josiah  B.  Woods  of  Enfield,  with  whom  he  fell  in  on 
his  return,  that  he  had  made  up  his  mind  to  two 
things:  i.  To  go  back  to  Amherst  and  labor  on  for 
the  college,  as  long  as  he  could  keep  soul  and  body 
together;  and  2.  Never  to  ask  anybody  for  another 
dollar!  Mr.  Woods  told  him  that  he  was  quite  too 
much  disheartened,  and  that  he  thought  he  could 
raise  the  whole  or  a  part  of  the  money  needed  for 
the  erection  of  such  a  building.  Thus  did  hope  and 
relief  spring  from  the  very  bosom  of  despair;  for 
this  was  the  beginning  of  the  effort  which  resulted 
in  the  rearing  on  "Meeting-house  Hill"  of  the 
Woods  Cabinet  and  Lawrence  Observatory.  And 
the  scientific  reputation  of  Dr.  Hitchcock,  together 
with  his  self-sacrificing  labors,  and  the  self-denial  of 
his  colleagues,  was  the  very  fulcrum  and  standing 


112         A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST    COLLEGE. 

place  (the  TTOU  <rr<5  of  Archimedes)  by  means  of  which 
Mr.  Woods  raised  the  money.  He  went  to  Hon. 
Abbott  Lawrence,  and  other  men  of  like  character 
and  standing  in  Boston  and  Lowell,  and  told  them 
it  was  a  shame  for  such  a  man  as  Dr.  Hitchcock,  who 
stood  at  the  very  head  of  American  savants,  to  toil 
and  starve  in  Amherst.  They  were  at  first  inclined 
to  doubt  whether  Mr.  Woods  had  not  overrated  Dr. 
Hitchcock's  rank  and  reputation  among  men  of  sci- 
ence. But  he  quoted  the  authority  of  Mr.  Lyell, 
whom  he  had  heard  say  that  the  doctor  knew  more 
of  geology  and  could  tell  it  better  than  any  other 
man  he  had  met  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic.  "  If 
you  still  doubt  it,  however,"  said  Mr.  Woods,  "  I  will 
bring  him  down  here,  and  you  shall  see  for  your- 
selves." It  was  with  great  difficulty  that  Dr.  Hitch- 
cock was  induced  to  show  himself  under  such  cir- 
cumstances. But  he  went  down ;  these  gentlemen 
saw  him,  and  were  charmed  alike  by  his  wisdom  and 
his  modesty.  Hon.  Abbott  Lawrence  subscribed 
one  thousand  dollars;  the  balance  of  the  money  was 
soon  forthcoming;  and  by  the  removal  of  prejudice 
and  the  enlightening  of  the  public  mind  in  influen- 
tial circles  in  and  around  Boston,  the  way  was  pre- 
pared for  obtaining  a  grant  from  the  Legislature. 

Meanwhile,  however,  the  president  in  his  despon- 
dency and  almost  despair  had  discovered  another 
and  still  richer  mine.  He  gives  the  following  ac- 
count of  it  himself  in  his  valedictory  address: 

"  In  the  discouraging  circumstances  in  which  I 
was  then  placed,  I  came  to  the  conclusion  that  I 
must  resign  my  place.  Yet  I  felt  apprehension  that 
in  the  condition  of  our  funds  no  one  worthy  the 


A    HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  11$ 

place  would  feel  justified  in  assuming  it.  I  there- 
fore determined  to  make  an  effort  to  get  a  professor- 
ship endowed.  And  where  was  it  more  natural  for 
me  to  look  than  to  one  who  only  a  short  time  before 
had  cheered  us  by  the  endowment  of  a  professorship? 

u  It  had  become  so  common  a  remark  among  the 
officers  of  Amherst  College,  that  if  any  respectable 
friend  should  give  us  fifty  thousand  dollars,  we  should 
attach  his  name  to  it,  that  I  felt  sure  it  would  be 
done ;  and  I  recollected,  too,  the  last  words  of  Pro- 
fessor Fiske  when  he  left  us:  *  Amherst  College  will 
be  relieved ;  Mr.  Williston,  I  think,  will  give  it  fifty 
thousand  dollars,  and  you  will  put  his  name  upon 
it.'  I  felt  justified,  therefore,  in  saying  to  him, 
that  if  his  circumstances  would  allow  him  to  come 
to  our  aid  in  this  exigency  by  founding  another  pro- 
fessorship, I  did  not  doubt  this  result  was  to  follow. 
He  gave  me  to  understand  that  in  his  will  a  pro- 
fessorship was  already  endowed,  and  that  he  would 
make  it  available  at  once,  if  greatly  needed.  Nay, 
he  offered  to  endow  the  half  of  another  professorship, 
provided  some  one  else  would  add  the  other  half. 
But  as  to  attaching  his  name  to  the  college,  he  felt 
unwilling  that  I  should  attempt  to  fulfill  that  prom- 
ise, certainly  during  his  life. 

"The  half  professorship  thus  offered  was  soon 
made  a  whole  one  by  Samuel  A.  Hitchcock,  Esq. ,  of 
Brimfield.  And,  oh !  what  a  load  did  these  benefac- 
tions take  from  my  mind !  For  several  years,  each 
returning  commencement  had  seemed  to  me  more 
like  a  funeral  than  a  joyful  anniversary,  for  I  saw 
not  how  the  downward  progress  of  the  college  was 
to  be  arrested.  But  now,  with  the  addition  of  thirty 


114          A    HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

thousand  dollars  to  our  funds,  I  began  to  hope  that 
we  might  be  saved.  But  the  kindness  of  Providence 
had  other  developments  in  store  for  us. 

"These  events  occurred  in  the  winter  of  1846,* 
while  the  Legislature  of  Massachusetts  was  in  session. 
We  had  often  appealed  to  them  unsuccessfully  for 
help;  and  I  feared  that,  when  the  generous  benefac- 
tions of  individuals  should  be  made  public,  we 
should  seek  in  vain  in  that  quarter  for  the  aid  which 
should  in  justice  be  given  us.  I  therefore  requested 
permission  of  the  trustees,  by  letter,  to  make  one 
more  application  to  the  government.  They  allowed 
me  to  do  it,  and  the  result  was  a  donation  from  the 
state  of  twenty-five  thousand  dollars.  The  passage 
of  the  resolve  met  with  less  opposition  than  on  for- 
mer occasions.  Perhaps  the  following  incident, 
communicated  to  me  by  a  member  of  the  Legisla- 
ture, may  appear  to  the  Christian  to  be  connected 
with  this  fact : 

"  The  bill  for  aiding  Amherst  College  came  up  on 
Saturday,  and  met  with  strong  and  able  opposition,  so 
that  its  friends  trembled  for  its  fate.  On  Saturday 
evening,  a  few  members  of  the  Legislature  were  in  the 
habit  of  meeting  for  prayer.  That  evening  the  bill 
for  aiding  the  college  formed  the  burden  of  conversa- 
tion and  of  supplication,  and  each  one  agreed  to 
make  it  the  subject  of  private  prayer  on  the  Sabbath. 
Monday  came,  the  bill  was  read ;  but  to  the  amaze- 
ment of  these  praying  men,  opposition  had  almost 
disappeared,  and  with  a  few  remarks  it  was  passed. 
How  could  they,  how  can  we,  avoid  the  conviction 

1  The  writer  must  mean  1846-47.  It  was  in  1847  that  the 
grant  was  voted  by  the  Legislature. 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  11$ 

that  prayer  was  the  grand  agency  that  smoothed  the 
troubled  waters,  and  gave  the  college  the  victory, 
after  so  many  years  of  bitter  opposition  and  defeat?" 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  add,  what  Dr.  Hitchcock 
believed  as  fully  and  insisted  on  as  strenuously  as 
any  of  us,  that  prayer,  in  this  case,  was  accompanied 
by  exertion,  and  faith  by  works ;  and  "  by  work 
faith  was  made  perfect."  In  proof  of  this,  we  have 
only  to  notice  the  rare,  and  not  accidental,  number 
of  distinguished  graduates  and  other  friends  of 
the  college  who  were  at  that  time  members  of  the 
Legislature.  Hon.  Wiliam  B.  Calhoun  was  presi- 
dent of  the  Senate.  Among  the  senators,  most  of 
whom  were  friendly,  it  is  not  invidious  to  name 
Jonathan  C.  Perkins,  an  alumnus,  and  Joseph  Avery, 
one  of  the  founders  and  trustees  of  Mount  Holyoke 
Seminary,  as  especial  friends.  In  running  the  eye 
over  a  list  of  the  members  of  the  House  of  Represen- 
tatives, we  notice  the  names  of  Henry  Edwards  of 
Boston,  Otis  P.  Lord  of  Salem,  Alexander  H.  Bul- 
lock of  Worcester,  John  Leland  of  Amherst,  John 
Clary  of  Conway,  Henry  Morris  of  Springfield,  and 
Ensign  H.  Kellogg  of  Pittsfield.  Mr.  Woods,  who 
watched  the  bill  pretty  closely,  said  that  to  no  one 
in  the  Senate  was  the  college  more  indebted  than  to 
Hon.  C.  B.  Rising,  one  of  the  senators  from  Hamp- 
shire County,  who,  when  it  was  proposed  uncere- 
moniously to  reject  the  petition,  rose  and  spoke 
manfully  and  ably  in  defense  of  the  institution. 

In  1847,  Hon.  David  Sears  also  made  an  addition, 
large,  liberal,  and  unique,  to  the  Sears  Foundation 
of  Literature  and  Benevolence.  By  what  considera- 
tions he  was  influenced  may  be  seen  from  his  letter, 


Il6          A   HISTORY   OF  AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

which  was  read  at  the  dedication  of  the  Woods  Cab- 
inet and  the  celebration  which  was  connected  with 
it :  "  While  the  benefactors  of  the  college  are  thus 
honored,"  says  he,  "the  faculty  of  the  college 
should  come  in  for  their  share  of  gratitude.  I  have 
been  a  silent,  but  not  inattentive  observer  of  them. 
I  have  been  informed  of  their  devotion  to  their  liter- 
ary labors,  of  their  self-denials,  of  their  voluntary 
surrender  of  a  part  of  their  moderate  salaries,  re- 
serving only  enough  for  a  bare  subsistence,  to  re- 
lieve the  college  in  its  necessity.  Such  disinterested 
zeal  stands  out  brightly,  and  merits  an  honorable 
record." 

While  money  was  thus  flowing  in  from  individual 
donors  and  from  the  treasury  of  the  state,  Professor 
Adams  presented  to  the  college  his  great  zoological 
collection,  and  Professor  Shepard  offered  to  deposit 
his  splendid  cabinet  as  soon  as  a  fireproof  building 
could  be  erected  suitable  to  receive  it. 

"See  now,"  says  Dr.  Hitchcock  as  he  reviews  this 
period  in  his  Reminiscences,  "see  how  altered  was 
the  condition  of  the  college!  More  than  one  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars  had  flowed  in  upon  it  in  endow- 
ments and  buildings  in  a  little  more  than  two  years, 
as  follows : 

Williston  Professorship  of  Rhetoric  and  Oratory,  .  $20,000 
Graves  Professorship  of  the  Greek  Language  and 

Literature, 20,000 

Hitchcock  Professorship  of  Natural  Theology 

and  Geology,    .         .         .         .         .        .         .  22,000 

Donation  from  the  State,  .  .  .  .  .  25,000 

Sears  Foundation, 12,000 

The  Woods  Cabinet  and  Observatory,  .  .  .  9,000 

,000 


OF  THE 

[UNIVERSITY^ 

CALIFORNIA- 


THE    BARRETT    GYMNASIUM. 


WOODS   CABINET    AND    OBSERVATORY. 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  1 1/ 

"  Along  with  the  pecuniary  aid  there  came  also  a 
rich  profusion  of  specimens,  either  presented  or  on 
deposit,  whose  value  is  poorly  expressed  in  money. 
If  only  half  their  present  value,  we  must  add  from 
thirty-five  to  forty  thousand  dollars  to  the  above  sum. 
Was  it  enthusiasm  in  me  to  speak  of  the  change  as 
follows:  'Our  debts  were  cancelled  and  available 
funds  enough  left  to  enable  us  to  go  on  with  economy 
from  year  to  year  and  with  increased  means  of  in- 
struction. The  incubus  that  had  so  long  rested  upon 
us  was  removed;  the  cord  that  had  well-nigh  throt- 
tled us  was  cut  asunder,  and  the  depletion  of  our 
life-blood  was  arrested.  Those  only  who  have 
passed  through  such  a  season  of  discouragement  and 
weakness  can  realize  with  what  gratitude  to  God  and 
our  benefactors  we  went  on  with  our  work. ' 

"  The  great  additions  to  our  fund,  made  in  the  lat- 
ter part  of  1846  and  the  first  part  of  1847,  were  not 
made  public  till  after  a  special  meeting  of  the  trus- 
tees, which  took  place  July  6,  1847.  This  was  the 
most  delightful  trustee  meeting  I  had  ever  attended. 
Those  venerable  men,  Drs.  Fiske,  Packard,  Vaill, 
Ely,  Ide,  William  B.  Calhoun,  and  John  Tappan, 
George  Grennell,  Alfred  Foster,  Samuel  Williston, 
Linus  Child,  David  Mack,  Ebenezer  Alden,  and 
Henry  Edwards,  whom  Dr.  Humphrey  and  myself 
had  so  often  met  with  a  discouraging  story  of  debt  and 
an  empty  treasury,  were  now  for  the  first  time  to  be 
told  of  God's  wonderful  goodness  in  turning  our  cap- 
tivity and  answering  their  long-continued  and  ear- 
nest prayers.  They  were  to  have  a  little  respite,  be- 
fore they  died,  from  the  incessant  demands  upon  their 
beneficence  and  labors  with  which  they  had  ever  been 


Il8         A   HISTORY    OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

met.  It  was  a  matter  of  high  gratification  to  see  how 
happy  they  were  in  their  subsequent  visits  to  Amherst, 
to  see  how  everything  was  altered  for  the  better  as  the 
fruit  of  their  long  toil,  and  sacrifice,  and  prayers." 

The  chief  business  of  this  meeting  of  the  trustees 
was  the  appropriation  of  the  newly  received  grants 
and  donations,  and  the  naming  of  the  new  buildings 
and  professorships.  The  first  appropriation  was  for 
the  payment  of  the  debt,  then  amounting  to  twelve 
thousand  four  hundred  and  sixty-five  dollars,  for  this 
was  the  sore  and  heavy  burden,  and  Mr.  Sears  had 
wisely  made  it  a  condition  of  his  donations  that  the 
college  must  pay  its  debts  before  it  could  receive  the 
full  benefit  of  his  foundation.  The  debt  was  paid 
partly  from  the  funds  of  the  college  and  partly  from 
the  grant  of  the  state.  The  remainder  of  the 
twenty-five  thousand  dollars  granted  by  the  state 
was  appropriated  to  the  endowment  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts professorship  of  chemistry  and  natural  his- 
tory. The  term  bills  were  reduced  from  forty-eight 
to  forty-two  dollars  a  year,  and  it  was  voted  to  remit 
the  full  amount  of  the  regular  term  bills  to  indigent 
students  preparing  for  the  Christian  ministry.  The 
new  cabinet  received  the  name  of  Hon.  Josiah  B. 
Woods,  and  the  observatory  that  of  Hon.  Abbott 
Lawrence.  The  professorship  of  natural  theology 
and  geology,  endowed  by  Hon.  Samuel  Williston 
and  Samuel  A.  Hitchcock,  Esq.,  was  named  from 
the  latter;  the  professorship  of  Greek  and  Hebrew, 
endowed  by  Mr.  Williston,  was  named  the  Graves 
Professorship,  with  a  double  reference  to  the  maiden 
name  of  Mrs.  Williston  and  to  Colonel  Graves,  one  of 
the  founders;  and  a  new  professorship  of  Latin  and 


A    HISTORY    OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  119 

French,  temporarily  endowed,  was  called  the  Moore 
Professorship,  in  honor  of  the  first  president.  Ar- 
rangements were  made  for  making  tip  in  full  the  defi- 
cient salaries  of  the  president  and  professors,  and  the 
sum  of  twelve  hundred  dollars  was  appropriated  for 
repairs  and  placing  blinds  upon  the  college  edifices. 

No  man  ever  knew  better  than  Dr.  Hitchcock  how 
to  make  the  most  of  any  success  in  the  way  of  public 
impressions.  The  placing  of  blinds  upon  the  win- 
dows of  the  dormitory  buildings  was  a  stroke  of  pol- 
icy for  impression  on  the  students,  equal  to  Napoleon's 
gilding  the  dome  of  the  Invalides  for  dazzling  the 
eyes  of  the  Parisians,  although  under  very  different 
circumstances.  Not  less  suited  to  please  students 
was  his  policy  of  making  to  them  the  first  formal 
and  public  announcement  of  all  these  donations  and 
the  action  of  the  trustees.  The  scene  is  thus  de- 
scribed in  the  Reminiscences :  "  The  meeting  closed 
in  the  afternoon,  and  as  the  students  were  yet  igno- 
rant of  the  whole  matter  in  which  I  knew  they  felt  a 
deep  interest,  I  took  the  opportunity  at  evening 
prayers  to  read  the  votes,  and  I  shall  never  forget 
the  scene  that  followed.  At  first  they  did  not  seem 
to  comprehend  the  matter,  and  they  gave  no  demon- 
stration of  their  feelings,  especially  as  two  of  the 
trustees  were  present.  But  as  the  successive  an- 
nouncements came  out,  they  could  not  restrain  their 
feelings  and  began  to  clap,  and  by  the  time  the  last 
vote  was  read,  the  clapping  was  tremendous,  and 
when  they  were  dismissed  and  had  reached  the  outer 
door  of  the  chapel,  they  stopped  and  the  cheering  was 
long  and  loud." 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  trustees  in  August, 


120         A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

•* 

1847,  they  appointed  "a  committee  to  consider  in 
what  manner  we  should  testify  our  gratitude  to  God 
and  our  benefactors,  in  view  of  recent  favors  to  the 
college."  They  reported  that,  "at  such  time  as  the 
president  and  professors  shall  regard  as  suitable,  a 
public  meeting  be  held  in  Amherst,  with  an  invita- 
tion to  the  friends  and  benefactors  of  the  college  to 
be  present,  and  that  Hon.  William  B.  Calhoun  be  re- 
quested to  deliver  an  address  on  the  occasion."  The 
meeting  was  deferred  till  June  28,  1848,  in  order  to 
connect  with  it  the  dedication  of  the  new  cabinet  and 
observatory,  which  would  not  be  finished  and  filled 
with  specimens  at  an  earlier  date.  The  occasion  was 
one  of  deep  interest.  The  president's  address  of  wel- 
come was  in  the  same  strain  of  wonder  and  gratitude 
to  God  and  our  benefactors  which  we  have  seen  in  the 
foregoing  pages.  Mr.  Calhoun  in  his  address  of  com- 
memoration and  dedication  said :  "  The  waning  for- 
tunes of  this  institution  have  for  years  brought  to  our 
hearts  gloom,  despondency,  almost  despair.  Heaven 
again  beams  upon  us  with  blessings.  To  Heaven  let 
us  not  cease  to  offer  the  incense  of  thanksgiving. 
We  render  our  thankfulness  and  gratitude  to  all  our 
benefactors.  We  leave  behind  us  the  night  of  gloom 
through  which  we  have  passed.  We  receive  the  col- 
lege into  the  fellowship  of  new  and  animated  hopes. 
The  massive  structures  upon  which  are  inscribed  the 
names  of  the  generous  donors,  rising  up  in  the  midst 
of  this  landscape,  these  hills  and  valleys  of  unsur- 
passed grandeur  and  beauty,  are  now  dedicated  to  the 
cause  of  science  and  truth.  Long,  ever  may  they 
stand  thus  dedicated.  Here  may  science  remain 
tributary  to  virtue,  freedom,  religion.  Here  may 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  121 

there  be  inscribed  on  all  these  walls  and  in  every 
heart,  Christo  et  Ecclesice." 

In  response  to  the  call  and  remarks  of  President 
Hitchcock,  brief  addresses  were  made  by  Governor 
Armstrong,  Mr.  Woods,  Mr.  Williston,  Professor 
Silliman,  Professor  Shepard,  Professor  Redfield,  and 
President  Wheeler,  and  letters  were  read  from  ex- 
President  Humphrey,  Prof.  B.  B.  Edwards,  Mr. 
Sears,  Mr.  Lawrence,  Mr.  Gerard  Hallock,  and 
others.  It  was  a  day  of  great  rejoicing,  and  in  the 
name  of  all  who  participated  in  this  festival  of  joy 
and  gratitude,  in  the  name  especially  of  the  generous 
donors  whose  benefactions  were  thus  celebrated,  and 
whose  names  are  inscribed  upon  those  walls  and 
tablets,  the  writer  of  this  history  here  enters  his  pub- 
lic protest  against  any  hasty  or  needless  removal  of 
these  buildings.  Dedicated  to  science  and  religion, 
and  inscribed  with  the  names  of  the  generous  donors, 
we  can  not  but  say  with  the  distinguished  orator  of 
the  day,  "  Long,  ever  may  they  stand,  thus  dedicated, 
and  thus  inscribed." 

At  the  dedication  of  the  observatory,  President 
Hitchcock  remarked:  "We  should  be  very  faithless 
and  ungrateful  to  doubt  that  the  same  Providence 
which  has  done  so  much  for  us  the  past  year  will 
send  us  a  fitting  telescope  if  it  is  best  for  us  to  have 
one,  and  send  it,  too,  just  at  the  right  time."  In  his 
valedictory  address  he  was  able  to  say:  "This 
prediction,  through  the  liberality  of  Hon.  Rufus 
Bullock,  has  been  fulfilled,  and  a  noble  telescope  has 
just  been  placed  in  yonder  dome,  which,  through 
the  great  skill  and  indefatigable  industry  of  Alvan 
Clark,  Esq.,  who  has  constructed  it,  is  one  of  the 


122         A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

finest  instruments  of  its  size  that  ever  graced  an 
observatory.  In  the  hands  of  Mr.  Clark  it  has  al- 
ready introduced  to  the  astronomic  world  two  new 
double  stars  never  before  recognized — one  of  which 
is  probably  binary. " 

After  the  first  three  years  of  his  administration, 
having  already  succeeded  beyond  his  most  sanguine 
hopes  in  relieving  the  college  from  debt,  and  estab- 
lished it  on  a  solid  pecuniary  foundation,  while  at 
the  same  time  he  saw  it  increasing  in  numbers,  and 
enjoying  a  literary  and  religious  prosperity  corre- 
sponding with  its  financial  condition,  President 
Hitchcock  might  well  have  said,  "  Now  lettest  Thou 
Thy  servant  depart  in  peace."  He  now  began  to 
press  upon  the  trustees  a  wish  to  retire  from  the 
presidency.  But  instead  of  listening  to  his  sugges- 
tion, they  pressed  him  to  recuperate  his  health  and 
spirits  by  a  tour  in  Europe,  and  in  the  spring  of  1850 
he  and  Mrs.  Hitchcock  reluctantly  set  out  on  their 
journey.  He  travelled  through  Great  Britain,  France, 
Belgium,  Switzerland,  and  a  portion  of  Germany; 
explored  the  geology  of  those  countries,  examined 
the  agricultural  schools,  in  the  discharge  of  a  com- 
mission unexpectedly  received  from  the  government 
of  Massachusetts;  visited  and  studied  the  scientific 
collections,  the  galleries,  and  museums;  observed 
with  equal  interest  the  natural  features  and  the 
moral  and  religious  aspects  of  the  countries ;  attended 
the  meeting  of  the  British  Association  for  the  Ad- 
vancement of  Science  at  Edinburgh,  and  the  Peace 
Congress  at  Frankfort-on-the-Main,  and  returned 
home,  "  having  been  absent  one  hundred  and  fifty- 
eight  days,  and  travelled  ten  thousand  six  hundred 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  123 

and  forty-seven  miles"  (these  details  are  character- 
istic), and  having  expended  for  himself  and  wife  less 
than  two  hundred  dollars  over  and  above  what  he  re- 
ceived from  the  government  and  from  individuals 
with  whom  he  travelled,  or  fell  in,  and  who  insisted 
on  defraying  portions  of  his  expenses.  On  reaching 
Amherst,  he  was  received  at  the  entrance  of  the  town 
by  the  students,  who  gave  him  an  enthusiastic  wel- 
come, and  in  the  evening  expressed  their  joy  by  an 
illumination  of  the  college  buildings. 

Encouraged  by  the  Sears  foundation,  a  portion  of 
whose  income  was  restricted  to  the  purchase  of  books, 
by  a  liberal  donation  from  George  Merriam,  Esq.,  of 
Springfield,  and  by  an  informal  meeting  of  a  few 
friends  of  the  college  in  Salem  (Judges  Perkins  and 
Huntington,  and  Richard  P.  Waters,  Esq.),  Professor 
Edwards  brought  the  subject  before  the  trustees  at 
their  annual  meeting  in  1850,  and  they  authorized  an 
immediate  effort  to  procure  means  for  erecting  a 
library,  and  increasing  the  number  of  books.  Pro- 
fessor Edwards  was  chairman  of  the  committee  on 
whom  this  duty  was  devolved.  The  work  of  raising 
the  money  was  commenced  by  Professor  Tyler,  who 
started  a  subscription  (where  subscriptions  in  behalf 
of  the  college  have  most  frequently  taken  their  start) 
in  the  town  of  Amherst.  Three  thousand  dollars  were 
raised  on  the  spot  before  any  effort  was  made  else- 
where. Another  thousand  was  raised  in  the  vicinity, 
chiefly  in  the  neighboring  churches.  Mr.  Merriam 
had  already  given  his  pledge  of  fifteen  hundred  dol- 
lars. Mr.  Williston,  who,  in  this  as  in  all  the  other 
efforts  in  behalf  of  the  college,  was  the  largest  bene- 
factor, stood  ready  with  a  donation  of  three  thousand 


124         A    HISTORY    OF   AMHERST    COLLEGE. 

dollars.  But  the  larger  and  more  difficult  part  of  the 
work  was  done  by  Mr.  George  B.  Jewett,  who,  when 
he  commenced  it,  was  a  teacher  of  a  private  school  in 
Salem,  but  soon  after  was  made  professor  of  Latin 
and  modern  languages.  Among  the  largest  sub- 
scriptions out  of  Amherst  were  those  of  David  Sears 
and  Jonathan  Phillips  of  Boston.  When  the  sum  of 
fifteen  thousand  dollars  was  procured,  ten  thousand 
was  devoted  to  the  building,  and  the  remainder  to  the 
purchase  of  books.  The  building  was  planned  by 
the  same  architect  as  the  cabinet  and  observatory 
(Mr.  Sykes).  It  was  begun  in  1852,  and  finished  in 
1853.  Professor  Edwards,  alas,  did  not  live  to  see  it 
completed.  His  friend,  Professor  Park,  had  the 
melancholy  satisfaction  of  delivering  an  address  at  the 
dedication.  The  erection  of  this  building,  which  now 
contains  only  the  reading  room,  the  committee  room, 
and  the  working  rooms  of  the  present  library,  intro- 
duced a  new  era  in  the  architecture  on  the  college 
hill.  Hitherto  brick  had  been  the  sole  material.  The 
library,  according  to  the  suggestion  of  Professor 
Edwards,  was  of  stone,  thus  inaugurating  what  might 
be  called  the  age  of  granite.  And  it  was  scarcely 
less  a  new  epoch  in  regard  to  the  new  books  that 
were  placed  on  the  shelves,  and  the  new  facilities 
which  were  now  afforded  for  reading  and  study. 

At  a  special  meeting  of  the  trustees  at  Amherst, 
October  n,  1852,  they  established  a  scientific  de- 
partment, designed  to  meet  the  wants  of  graduates 
who  wish  to  pursue  particular  branches  of  science 
and  literature  beyond  the  regular  four  years'  course, 
and  of  other  young  men  who  desire  to  study  some 
subjects  without  joining  the  regular  classes.  This 


A    HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  12$ 

department  grew  naturally  out  of  the  rich  and  ex- 
tensive cabinets  and  the  valuable  laboratory  which 
the  college  possessed,  together  with  the  rare  cluster 
of  scientific  professors  gathered  here  under  the  au- 
spices and  guidance  of  a  scientific  president.  As 
adopted  by  the  corporation  and  published  in  the 
catalogue  for  1852-53,  the 'department  comprised  nine 
branches,  which  were  to  be  taught  chiefly  by  the 
regular  professors  of  the  ordinary  college  course 
(although  two  or  three  other  gentlemen  resident  in 
the  town  were  called  in  to  supplement  deficiencies), 
as  follows:  i.  Geology  by  the  President;  2.  Mathe- 
matics, Natural  Philosophy,  and  Engineering  by 
Professor  Snell;  3.  Chemistry  by  Professor  Clark; 
4.  Agriculture  by  Rev.  J.  A.  Nash;  5.  Mineralogy 
by  Professor  Shepard;  6.  Zoology  by  Professor 
Adams;  7.  Botany,  without  any  special  professor; 
8.  Psychology  and  History  of  Philosophy  by  Professor 
Haven ;  9.  Philology  by  Professors  Tyler  and  Jewett, 
and  English  Literature  by  Professor  Warner.  The 
department  was  to  be  entirely  independent  of  the 
regular  college  course,  but  students  were  to  be 
allowed  to  attend  any  of  the  regular  courses  of  lec- 
tures. 

The  plan  went  into  operation  in  January,  1853. 
In  1853-54,  there  were  twelve  scientific  students;  in 
1854-55,  there  were  seventeen ;  in  1855-56,  there  were 
none  reported,  and  in  1857-58,  the  plan  drops  out  of 
the  catalogue.  In  the  triennial,  only  seven  men  are 
recorded  as  having  so  completed  the  course  as  to  re- 
ceive the  degree  of  bachelor  of  science. 

This  experiment  differed  from  that  of  the  "  parallel 
course"  twenty  years  previous  in  that  the  scientific 


126         A   HISTORY   OF  AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

department  was  entirely  independent  of  the  regular 
college  course,  instead  of  being  parallel  and  incor- 
porated with  it,  and,  not  professing  to  be  an  equivalent 
for  it,  did  not  confer  the  same  academic  degree.  But 
it  came  to  nearly  the  same  issue,  and  that  partly,  if 
not  chiefly,  for  the  same  reasons.  The  work  of  in- 
struction was  devolved  almost  entirely  on  the  profes- 
sors in  the  regular  course,  who  already  had  as  many 
duties  and  responsibilities  on  their  hands  as  they 
could  faithfully  and  successfully  discharge.  More 
money  and  more  men  were  requisite  to  make  it  a  suc- 
cess, and  even  with  these  the  older  institutions  in  or 
near  the  large  cities  have  the  advantage  over  Am- 
herst  in  regard  to  purely  scientific,  as  also  in  regard 
to  professional,  education.  The  practical  lesson  of 
these  experiments  seems  to  be,  let  Amherst  adhere 
to  her  original  and  proper  work,  the  educational  work 
of  a  New  England  Christian  college. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  trustees  in  August, 
1853,  President  Hitchcock  offered  to  make  a  donation 
to  the  college  of  his  collection  of  fossil  foot-marks, 
valued  by  Professor  Shepard  at  thirty-five  hundred 
dollars,  on  condition  that  the  friends  of  the  college 
would  raise  five  or  six  hundred  dollars  for  the  in- 
crease of  the  collection,  and  the  trustees  would  make 
the  necessary  arrangements  for  the  permanent  exhi- 
bition of  it  in  the  geological  cabinet.  Before  the 
offer  was  made,  the  first  condition  had  already  been 
met  through  the  agency  of  Dr.  Hitchcock  himself. 
Of  course  the  trustees  were  not  slow  to  comply  with 
the  second  condition,  and  thus  the  Doctor's  private 
ichnological  cabinet  became  the  property  of  the 
college,  just  as  his  mineralogical  and  geological  cab- 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  I2/ 

inets  had  been  given  to  the  college,  fifteen  years  pre- 
viously, on  very  similar  conditions.  These  cabinets 
are  now  of  inestimable  value,  especially  the  ichno- 
logical,  which  is,  perhaps,  the  choicest  and  richest  of 
the  kind  in  the  world,  and  so,  besides  attracting 
thousands  of  ordinary  visitors  every  year,  has  made 
Amherst  a  kind  of  Mecca  to  geologists  and  savants  of 
all  nations.  It  would  have  been  easy,  and  perhaps 
perfectly  right,  for  Dr.  Hitchcock  to  have  kept  it  in 
his  own  hands,  increasing  it  constantly  by  purchase 
and  exchange  and  leaving  it  as  his  private  property. 
But  that  was  not  his  way.  It  was  characteristic  of 
him  rather  to  give  it  to  the  college,  without  imposing 
any  other  conditions,  except  such  as  would  make  it 
more  valuable  and  useful. 

At  the  same  time  Mr.  Edward  Hitchcock,  Jr.,  pre- 
sented to  the  college  his  collection  of  Indian  relics, 
the  fruit  of  half  a  dozen  years'  industry,  and  then 
consisting  of  seven  hundred  and  twenty-one  speci- 
mens, stipulating  only  that  the  collection  should  be 
placed  in  suitable  cases,  and  should  never  be  merged 
with  any  other  collection.  Thus  was  the  foundation 
laid  for  the  Gilbert  Museum  of  Indian  Relics. 

At  a  special  meeting  of  the  trustees  at  Amherst, 
November  21,  1853,  Professor  Aaron  Warner  resigned 
the  professorship  of  rhetoric  and  oratory,  and  Rev. 
Thomas  P.  Field,  then  pastor  of  a  Presbyterian  church 
in  Troy,  N.  Y.,  was  elected  to  fill  the  vacancy.  Three 
days  after  this  meeting  of  the  corporation,  President 
Hitchcock  addressed  a  letter  "  to  the  Hon.  Nathan 
Appleton  and  other  executors  of  the  will  of  the  late 
Hon.  Samuel  Appleton,"  rehearsing  the  donation  and 
growth  of  the  zoological  collections  of  Professor 


128         A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

Adams,  describing  the  history  and  value  of  his  own 
collection  of  fossil  foot-marks,  which  he  further  en- 
forced by  the  testimonies  of  Dr.  Gould  and  Professor 
Agassiz,  explaining  the  inconvenience,  the  utter  in- 
adequacy, and  also  the  insecurity  of  the  rooms  in 
which  these  collections  were  now  deposited,  and 
modestly  inquiring  whether  the  erection  of  a  suitable 
building  to  receive  and  protect  them  all  would  not 
come  within  the  scope  of  the  liberal  bequest  of  two 
hundred  thousand  dollars  which  Mr.  Appleton  left  for 
the  purposes  of  literature,  science,  and  benevolence. 
For  an  entire  year  Dr.  Hitchcock  received  no  answer 
to  this  letter,  and  he  had  relinquished  all  hope  that 
it  would  meet  with  any  response. 

Meanwhile  his  health  and  spirits,  somewhat  re- 
cruited by  his  foreign  tour,  had  relapsed  to  such  a 
degree  that  he  felt  he  could  no  longer  endure  the 
burden  of  the  presidency,  and  must  insist  on  being 
relieved.  With  this  view  he  summoned  a  special 
meeting  of  the  trustees  in  Boston  on  the  nth  of 
July,  1854,  and  there  resigned  his  office  into  their 
hands,  assigning  as  his  only  reason  "  the  inadequacy 
of  his  health  to  sustain  the  labors,  especially  those 
pertaining  to  the  government  of  the  institution."  It 
was  voted  "  that  the  resignation  of  President  Hitch- 
cock be  accepted,  to  take  effect  when  a  successor  can 
be  appointed,  and  that  his  services  be  retained  in  the 
professorship  of  natural  theology  and  geology." 
At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  board,  August  7,  1854, 
Rev.  William  A.  Stearns  was  chosen  president  and 
professor  of  moral  philosophy  and  Christian  theo- 
logy. On  Tuesday  evening,  November  21,  1854, 
Dr.  Stearns  was  installed  pastor  of  the  college 


A   HISTORY    OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  129 

church  by  an  ecclesiastical  council  of  which  Rev. 
Dr.  Vaill  was  the  moderator,  and  Rev.  Dr.  Blagden 
scribe.  The  sermon  was  preached  by  Rev.  Dr. 
Leavitt  of  Providence.  Dr.  Hitchcock  gave  the 
charge  to  the  pastor.  The  right  hand  of  fellow- 
ship was  presented  by  Rev.  Mr.  Paine  of  Holden, 
and  an  address  made  to  the  college  by  Rev.  Dr.  J. 
S.  Clark  of  Boston.  On  Wednesday,  November  22d, 
the  inaugural  services  were  held  in  the  village 
church.  After  singing  by  the  college  choir  and 
prayer  by  Rev.  Dr.  Clark,  an  historical  address  was 
delivered  by  the  retiring  president,  including  the 
ceremony  of  giving  the  college  seal,  charter,  etc.,  as 
an  act  of  induction  to  his  successor,  and  closing 
with  the  announcement  of  a  donation  of  ten  thousand 
dollars  to  the  college  from  the  trustees  of  the  late 
Samuel  Appleton,  for  the  erection  of  a  cabinet  of 
natural  history.  Dr.  Hitchcock  had  relinquished 
all  hope  of  such  a  donation.  He  had  written  his 
farewell  address  in  this  state  of  mind.  After  describ- 
ing the  rich  zoological  collections  of  Professor  Adams 
with  the  testimonies  of  Professor  Agassiz  and  Dr. 
Gould  to  their  unequalled  scientific  value,  he  had 
written :  "  Yet  this  fine  collection  is  spread  into 
three  apartments  and  is  imminently  exposed  to  fire. 
To  secure  a  new  building  to  receive  it,  with  the  still 
more  exposed  collection  of  fossil  foot-marks,  has  long 
been  with  me  an  object  of  strong  desire  and  effort; 
and  it  is  among  the  deepest  of  my  regrets,  on  leaving 
the  presidency,  that  it  remains  unaccomplished." 

"Thus  had  I  written,"  he  continues  in  the  address 
as  he  delivered  it,  "  thus  had  I  written  only  a  few 
days  ago,  and  thus  had  I  expected  to  leave  this  sub- 


130         A   HISTORY   OF  AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

ject  to-day.  But  a  kind  Providence  has  ordered 
otherwise.  Last  evening  a  letter  was  received,  an- 
nouncing the  gratifying  intelligence  that  the  trus- 
tees under  the  will  of  the  late  Hon.  Samuel  Apple- 
ton  of  Boston  had  appropriated,  only  ten  days  ago, 
ten  thousand  dollars  of  the  sum  left  by  him  for  sci- 
entific and  benevolent  purposes  to  the  erection  of 
another  cabinet — the  Appleton  Zoological  Cabinet — 
by  the  side  of  the  Woods  cabinet  on  yonder  hill." 
Thus  he,  who  in  his  experiments  in  the  chemical 
laboratory  was  always  expecting  to  fail,  but  never 
did  fail,  was  now  successful  beyond  his  most  sanguine 
expectations,  for  as  usual  he  had  asked  for  the  small- 
est sum  that  could  possibly  answer  the  purpose,  and 
he  received  nearly  twice  as  much  as  he  asked;  and 
the  close  of  his  administration  was  marked,  like  its 
beginning,  by  donations  that  surprised  himself 
scarcely  less  than  they  delighted  the  friends  of  the 
institution. 

Dr.  Hitchcock's  address  was  followed  by  a  few 
beautiful  and  appropriate  remarks  from  Col.  A.  H. 
Bullock  of  Worcester,  communicating  the  doings  of 
the  trustees  in  reference  to  the  aforesaid  donation. 
Mr.  Bullock's  remarks  on  the  reception  of  this  gift 
were  received  with  universal  and  hearty  applause. 
Two  or  three  degrees  were  conferred  by  the  retiring 
president,  among  others  one  on  Alvan  Clark,  Esq.,  of 
Cambridge,  maker  of  the  magnificent  telescope  re- 
cently presented  to  the  college  by  Rufus  Bullock, 
Esq.,  of  Royalston,  Mass.  After  a  few  minutes'  re- 
cess, a  Latin  oration  of  a  congratulatory  character 
was  delivered,  according  to  appointment,  by  Hasket 
Derby,  a  member  of  the  senior  class.  The  closing 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  13! 

exercise  was  the  inaugural  address  by  the  new 
president.1 

If  Dr.  Humphrey  was  our  Moses,  the  giver  of  our 
laws  and  institutions,  Dr.  Hitchcock  was  our  Joshua, 
who  led  us  into  the  promised  land,  conquered  our 
enemies  by  making  them  friends,  and  gave  us  secure 
and  permanent  possession  of  houses  that  we  did  not 
build,  vineyards  and  olive-yards  that  we  planted  not. 
It  is  not  difficult  to  discern  the  distinctive  features 
of  this  portion  of  our  history.  It  was  in  many  re- 
spects a  new  era,  and  that  in  no  small  measure  the 
result  of  a  new  policy.  It  was  the  end  —  forever, 
let  us  hope  —  of  living  beyond  our  means  and  running 
in  debt.  Dr.  Hitchcock  had  seen  and  suffered  the 
effects  of  that  process  —  some  of  the  most  impressive 
pages  in  his  "  Reminiscences"2  are  those  in  which  he 
describes  the  Sisyphean  labor  which  it  imposed,  and 
the  fatal  consequences  to  which  it  led;  and  he 
adopted  at  the  outset  the  rule  to  which  he  rigidly 
adhered,  and  which  he  earnestly  recommended  to  all 
public  institutions,  to  erect  no  buildings  and  make 
no  improvements  until  the  funds  were  actually  ob- 
tained. 

It  was  the  end  of  general  subscriptions  to  meet 
current  expenses.  It  was  the  beginning  of  endow- 
ments by  large  donations  from  individuals.3  It  was 
the  beginning  of  grants  by  the  state.  It  was  the  age 

1  See  Discourses  and  Addresses  at  the  Installation  and  In- 
auguration of  the  Rev.  William  A.  Stearns,   D.D.,  as  Presi- 
dent of  Amherst  College,  and  Pastor  of  the  College  Church. 

2  See  pp.  122-24,   138-42. 

3  Mr.  Sears'  first  donation  was  made  before  the  close  of  Dr. 
Humphrey's  presidency.     But  it  came  unsought,  and  was  only 
such  an  exception  as  proves  the  rule. 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 


132          A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

of  growth  and  expansion  in  cabinets,  collections,  and 
materials  for  the  illustration  of  the  physical  sciences. 
Our  archaeological  museums  also  owe  their  origin 
to  this  administration.  At  the  same  time — and  this 
fact  deserves  the  attention  of  those  who  may  have 
supposed  that  Dr.  Hitchcock  was  a  one-sided  presi- 
dent, and  gave  the  institution  growth  and  impulse 
only  in  one  direction — it  was  the  period  in  which 
the  library  building  was  erected,  and  new  books  were 
placed  on  the  shelves  of  such  a  kind,  and  to  such  an 
extent,  as  to  make  it  almost  a  new  library. 

Last,  not  least,  it  inaugurated  the  reign  of  compar- 
ative peace.  From  the  commencement  of  Dr.  Hitch- 
cock's presidency,  there  was  less  of  hostility  abroad 
than  there  had  ever  been  before,  and  more  than  for 
many  years  previous  of  peace,  quietness,  content- 
ment, and  satisfaction  at  home.  This  was  partly  the 
result  of  a  change  of  time  and  circumstances,  and 
partly  of  a  more  paternal,  perhaps  we  might  say 
fraternal,  administration  suited  to  the  times.  While 
he  was  true  and  faithful  to  the  faculty  and  govern- 
ment under  his  predecessor,  and  bore  with  the  spirit 
of  a  martyr  the  opprobrium  and  harm  of  measures 
and  methods  of  discipline  which  he  did  not  approve, 
it  was  no  secret  that  he  preferred  a  more  conciliatory 
policy.  During  his  own  presidency,  the  majority  of 
the  faculty  were  often  inclined  to  a  more  rigid  dis- 
cipline. And  the  trustees  were  unanimously  of 
the  opinion  that,  if  the  administration  could  be  im- 
proved in  any  particular,  it  was  by  greater  firmness 
and  strictness  in  the  enforcement  of  the  laws.  Yet 
President  Hitchcock  continued  to  the  last  to  believe 
in  and  rely  on  moral  suasion,  and  personal,  social, 


A    HISTORY    OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  133 

and  Christian  influence,  as  the  sceptre  of  his  power. 
Perhaps  he  had  no  more  faith  than  his  colleagues  in 
the  good  sense,  right  disposition,  and  honorable  pur- 
pose of  the  students,  or  in  the  goodness  of  human 
nature  generally,  for  he  was  a  firm  believer  in  the 
doctrine  of  total  depravity.  But  he  certainly  had 
less  faith  in  the  efficacy  of  the  rod,  either  in  family 
or  college  government.  He  could  give  as  many 
reasons  as  Plutarch  for  "  delay  in  the  punishment  of 
the  wicked,"  and  not  the  least  among  these  was 
that  therein  he  imitated  the  patience  and  forbearance 
of  the  Deity. 

He  magnified  the  civilizing  and  refining  influence 
of  the  family  upon  students.  He  did  not  believe  in 
the  dormitory  system.1  If  he  had  been  called  to 
establish  a  new  institution,  he  would  have  had  no 
dormitories.  Having  dormitories  in  Amherst  Col- 
lege, he  did  all  he  could  to  counterbalance  their  evil 
influence.  To  this  end,  as  well  as  for  the  increase  of 
personal  acquaintance  and  influence,  he  introduced 
the  custom  of  inviting  the  freshmen,  soon  after  enter- 
ing college,  to  meet  the  families  of  the  faculty  and 
others  from  the  village,  at  his  own  house;  and  al- 
though the  sophomores  sometimes  surprised  and 
grieved  the  good  man  by  improving  the  opportunity 
to  enter  their  rooms  and  turn  them  topsy-turvy,  and 
perhaps  pile  up  their  beds  in  his  own  front  yard,  yet 
he  never  gave  up  his  faith  in  the  "freshman  levee," 
or  in  the  influence  of  cultivated  Christian  families 
in  town  over  college  students.  In  accordance  with 
this  same  general  idea,  the  senior  levee,  which  un- 
der the  presidency  of  Dr.  Humphrey  was  only  a  col- 

1  Cf.  Reminiscences  of  Amherst  College,  p.  143. 


134         A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

lation  at  the  president's  house  at  noon,  immediately 
after  the  close  of  the  senior  examination,  was  at  once 
changed  by  Dr.  Hitchcock  into  a  social  party  in  the 
evening. 

The  professors  and  tutors  who  were  associated 
with  Dr.  Hitchcock  in  the  government  and  instruc- 
tion were,  for  the  most  part,  one  with  him  in  aim 
and  spirit — some  added  much  to  the  lustre  of  his 
presidency ;  and  were  he  to  write  the  history  of  his 
own  administration,  he  would  ascribe  a  large  share 
of  its  success  to  their  hearty  and  able  co-operation. 
Aaron  Warner,  Nathan  W.  Fiske,  Ebenezer  S.  Snell, 
Charles  U.  Shepard,  William  S.  Tyler,  Charles  B. 
Adams,  Henry  B.  Smith,  William  A.  Peabody,  Joseph 
Haven,  George  B.  Jewett,  William  S.  Clark,  and 
Thomas  P.  Field,  make  up  the  entire  list  of  the  pro- 
fessors who  at  different  times  composed  his  faculty. 
The  list  of  the  tutors  comprises  Rowland  Ayres, 
David  Torrey,  Lewis  Green,  Marshall  Henshaw, 
Francis  A.  March,  Albert  Tolman,  Leonard  Hum- 
phrey, William  Howland,  Henry  L.  Edwards,  Wil- 
liam C.  Dickinson,  John  M.  Emerson,  Samuel  Fiske, 
George  Howland,  and  John  E.  Sanford — with  Lyman 
Coleman,  Jabez  B.  Lyman,  instructors;  William  B. 
Calhoun,  James  L.  Merrick,  and  John  A.  Nash, 
nominally  lecturers  or  instructors,  and  Lucius  M. 
Boltwood,  librarian. 

Three  of  these  professors  died,  still  in  office,  dur- 
ing the  presidency  of  Dr.  Hitchcock.  One  of  them 
was  the  ripe  scholar  and  veteran  professor  who,  al- 
most at  the  beginning  of  that  presidency,  went  up 
from  the  city  where  our  Lord  was  crucified  to  walk 
the  streets  of  the  New  Jerusalem.  Professor  Fiske 


A    HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  135 

was  an  accurate  and  refined  scholar,  a  deep  thinker 
and  clever  reasoner,  a  powerful  preacher,  a  patient 
and  thorough  teacher,  an  acute  metaphysician,  and  a 
profound  theologian,  whom  God  did,  and  man  did  not, 
make  a  doctor  of  divinity.  He  was  not  a  popular 
preacher.  But  no  man  has  ever  preached  to  the 
reason,  the  conscience,  and  the  hearts  of  students  in 
Amherst  College  with  such  overwhelming  power  as 
Professor  Fiske,  especially  in  times  of  deep  religious 
interest.  Another  who  seemed  born  for  a  collector 
and  classifier  of  all  facts  in  natural  history,  the  youth- 
ful Aristotle  of  our  lyceum,  went  to  the  West  Indies 
partly  for  his  health,  but  chiefly  to  enlarge  his  scien- 
tific collections,  and  there  fell  a  sacrifice  to  his  zeal 
for  science  when  he  had  only  just  commenced  his 
career  of  discovery,  though  he  had  already  achieved 
more  for  his  favorite  studies  than  many  a  savant 
accomplishes  in  a  long  life.1 

A  third,  scholarly  and  refined,  full  of  hope  and 
promise,  had  just  entered  his  professorship,  and  just 
begun  to  inspire  his  class  with  his  own  enthusiasm 
for  the  language  and  literature  of  the  old  Romans, 
when  he  was  suddenly  stricken  down  by  the  de- 
stroyer.2 

The  value  of  Dr.  Hitchcock's  presidency  to  the 
institution  can  not  be  overestimated.  His  weight  of 
character  and  his  wise  policy  saved  the  college.  Hav- 
ing accomplished  the  object  for  which  he  accepted  the 
office,  he  resigned  the  command  with  far  greater 
satisfaction  than  he  took  it,  and  fell  back  again  into 
the  ranks — rose  again,  let  us  rather  say,  for  so  he 

1  Prof.  C.  B.  Adams. 

2  Prof.  William  A.  Peabody. 


136         A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

viewed  it,  to  those  unclouded  heights  of  science  and 
religion  on  which  he  had  before  delighted  to  stand, 
but  which  now  appeared  to  him  more  beautiful  than 
ever  as  he  looked  back  upon  the  region  of  clouds  and 
storm  through  which  he  had  passed.  At  the  request 
of  the  trustees  he  retained  the  professorship  of  nat- 
urar  theology  and  geology.  According  to  his  own 
proposal,  he  received  only  half  the  usual  salary  of  a 
professor.  He  held  this  professorship  almost  the 
same  length  of  time  as  he  had  occupied  the  presi- 
dential chair,  between  nine  and  ten  years.  For  some 
years  he  lectured  on  his  favorite  themes  with  his 
characteristic  ardor  bordering  on  enthusiasm.  He 
delivered  lectures  before  lyceums  and  addresses  on 
public  occasions.  He  revised  his  principal  works 
and  published  new  ones.  The  second  edition  of  his 
"Religion  of  Geology,"  considerably  enlarged,  was 
issued  in  1859 ;  the  thirty-first  edition  of  his  "  Elemen- 
tary Geology,"  re-written,  appeared  in  1860,  and  the 
third  edition  of  the  "Phenomena  of  the  Seasons," 
with  additions,  in  1861.  In  1859,  the  faculty  and 
students  presented  him  with  a  beautiful  service  of 
silver  plate,  which  gratified  him  much  as  an  expres- 
sion of  the  gratitude  and  affection  of  those  whom  he 
had  so  tenderly  loved  and  so  faithfully  served.  The 
same  year  he  was  brought  to  the  borders  of  the  grave. 
Physicians  and  friends  despaired  of  his  life.  If  he 
had  died  then,  the  world  would  have  said,  it  was  a 
completed  life.  But  not  so  heavenly  wisdom.  Be- 
fore Heaven  could  say  to  him,  "  Servant  of  God,  well 
done,"  he  must  live  on  through  five  more  years  of 
suffering,  years  of  dying  they  almost  seemed  to  him, 
still  writing  and  publishing,  still,  like  the  aged  Athe- 


A    HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  137 

man  sage,  learning  many  things,  still  interpreting 
nature  and  studying  his  own  frame  so  fearfully  and 
wonderfully  made,  still  lecturing  to  his  classes  even 
after  he  was  too  feeble  to  go  to  them  and  therefore 
invited  them  to'come  to  him,  still  making  large  and 
choice  collections  for  his  cabinets,  still  caring  and 
planning  for  his  beloved  college,  still  toiling  to  en- 
large the  boundaries  of  science,  still  watching  with 
jealousy  his  own  heart,  the  spiritual  condition  of  the 
college,  and  the  interests  of  evangelical  religion, 
all  the  while  battling  heroically  with  death  and  "  him 
that  has  the  power  of  death,"  and  nobly  illustrating 
the  triumph  of  mind  over  matter,  of  faith  and  phil- 
osophy over  all  the  powers  of  darkness  even  in  the 
last  extremity.  All  his  life-time  he  had  been  more 
or  less  subject  to  bondage  through  constitutional  de- 
pression and  fear  of  death.  But  he  died  leaning  his 
head  on  the  Cross  of  Christ  almost  visibly  present  by 
his  side,  and  wondering  at  the  riches  of  redeeming 
and  sustaining  grace.  At  the  time  of  his  death, 
which  was  on  the  27th  of  February,  1864,  he  had  not 
quite  reached  the  age  of  seventy-one.  On  the  2d  of 
March,  a  great  congregation,  consisting  of  the  faculty 
and  students,  trustees  and  alumni  of  the  college, 
scientific  men  and  clergymen  from  every  part  of  the 
state,  together  with  great  numbers  of  people  of  all 
classes  from  Amherst  and  the  neighboring  towns, 
assembled  in  the  village  church  to  attend  his  funeral 
and  thence  followed  the  body  to  its  last  resting-place 
in  the  cemetery.  The  spot  is  now  marked  by  a  plain 
granite  obelisk  bearing,  together  with  the  dates  of 
his  birth  and  death,  this  simple  and  truthful  inscrip- 
tion: 


138         A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 
EDWARD  HITCHCOCK, 

PASTOR     IN    CONWAY, 

PRESIDENT  AND  PROFESSOR  IN  AMHERST  COLLEGE. 

A     LEADER     IN     SCIENCE, 

A     LOVER     OF     MAN, 

A    FRIEND    OF    G  OD, 

EVER  ILLUSTRATING 
"THE  CROSS  IN  NATURE, 

AND 
NATURE  IN  THE  CROSS.  " 

But  his  best  and  most  enduring  monument  is  in 
his  work  in  the  college  which  he  restored,  and  in 
the  influence  which  he  exerted  upon  the  church  and 
the  world  by  his  tongue  and  his  pen,  and  through 
the  life  and  character  of  his  three  or  four  thousand 
pupils.  Nor  can  the  history  of  Mount  Holyoke 
Seminary,  any  more  than  that  of  Amherst  College,  be 
written  without  large  reference  to  Dr.  Hitchcock,  of 
whose  family  Miss  Lyon  was  a  member  when  she 
was  laying  broad  and  deep  her  plans  for  founding  it, 
and  whose  tongue  and  pen  were  among  the  chief 
organs  for  communicating  those  plans  to  the  public. 
These  two  institutions  will  perpetuate  his  name  and 
his  influence  so  long  as  they  faithfully  represent  that 
idea — science  and  religion — which  was  the  motto  of 
his  life. 


^UNIVERSITY, 

OF 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE    PRESIDENCY     OF    DR.    STEARNS — SCHOLARSHIPS    AND 

PRIZES NEW     BUILDINGS — THE      COLLEGE      CHURCH 

THE    BEGINNING    OF  THE    SYSTEM    FOR    PHYSICAL     EDU- 
CATION  THE    WALKER  AND  OTHER    PROFESSORSHIPS 

OPTIONAL    COURSES. 

PRESIDENT  WILLIAM  AUGUSTUS  STEARNS  was  born 
in  Bedford,  Mass.,  March  17,  1805.  His  father,  Rev. 
Samuel  Stearns  of  Bedford,  and  both  his  grand- 
fathers, were  ministers  of  the  gospel.  His  brothers 
are  well  known  as  distinguished  teachers  and  preach- 
ers. He  was  prepared  for  college  at  Phillips  Academy, 
Andover,  and  graduated  with  honor  at  Cambridge,  in 
1827,  with  such  classmates  as  Professor  Pel  ton  and 
Rev.  Dr.  Sweetser.  He  went  through  the  full  course 
of  theological  study  at  Andover,  in  the  same  class 
with  Dr.  Brainerd  of  Philadelphia,  Dr.  Joseph  S. 
Clark,  President  Labaree,  Professor  Owen,  and 
Professor  Park — the  class  of  '31.  After  teaching  a 
short  time  at  Duxbury,  he  was  ordained  December 
14,  1831,  pastor  of  the  church  at  Cambridgeport, 
where  he  remained  almost  twenty-three  years,  hon- 
ored and  beloved  by  all  his  people  as  an  able  preacher 
and  wise  pastor,  identified  with  the  public  schools  of 
Cambridge,  and  greatly  interested  in  Harvard  Uni- 
versity, and  sustaining  influential  relations  to  the 
cause  of  education  and  religion  in  Boston  and  vicinity. 
139 


140         A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

This  brief  general  statement  will  suffice  to  show  how 
different  President  Stearns's  antecedents  were  from 
those  of  either  of  his  predecessors,  and  how  these, 
together  with  the  breadth  and  balance  of  his  char- 
acter and  his  culture,  qualified  him  to  supplement 
and  complete  their  work. 

The  inauguration  of  President  Stearns,  of  which  we 
have  already  given  an  account,  took  place  on  Wednes- 
day, the  22d  of  November,  1854.  After  some  grace- 
ful allusions  to  the  origin  and  early  history,  the 
founders  and  former  presidents  of  Amherst  College, 
of  which  he  expressed  the  highest  appreciation 
though  he  himself  was  not  an  alumnus,  and  of  which 
he  asked  to  be  accepted  as  a  true  son  though  by 
adoption,  the  inaugural  address  proceeds  to  define  the 
end  or  aim  of  education,  which  is  to  produce  in  the 
person  educated  "  the  highest  style  of  man,"  and  then 
to  discuss  the  most  essential  ways  and  means,  physi- 
cal, intellectual,  moral,  and  religious,  by  which  that 
end  is  to  be  accomplished.  We  shall  see  further  on 
how  no''  a  few  of  the  ideas  which  the  president  thus 
developed  in  his  inaugural  were  realized  under  his 
administration.  The  key-note  of  the  address  is  con- 
tained in  the  concluding  sentences:  "Young  gentle- 
men, your  highest  attainment  is  the  attainment  of 
right  relations  toward  God,  and  a  concordance  with  the 
other  harmonies  of  the  universe.  There  is  one  great 
Central  Life  whose  pulsations  are  beating  through  all 
created  worlds.  When  in  addition  to  a  profound  and 
brilliant  scholarship,  attended  with  high  moral  and 
social  excellence,  and  wise  physical  self-control,  yon 
come  into  sympathy  with  this  great  Life,  so  that  your 
spirit  answers  to  that  Spirit,  as  the  pulsations  of  the 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  14! 

wrist  keep  time  with  those  that  are  throbbing  in  your 
heart,  then  will  you  be  truly  educated,  then  will  you 
have  reached  the  highest  order  of  man." 

In  the  evening  after  the  inauguration  the  students 
expressed  their  good  will  to  the  new  president  and 
their  expectation  of  a  prosperous  and  happy  presi- 
dency by  an  illumination  of  the  college  edifices. 
"Welcome  to  President  Stearns"  was  blazoned  in  let- 
ters of  brilliant  light  across  the  entire  front  of  Middle 
(now  North)  and  South  Colleges,  and  as  he  stood  in 
front  of  Woods  Cabinet,  admiring  the  brilliant  specta- 
cle, they  gathered  spontaneously  around  him,  extem- 
porized an  address  of  welcome  through  a  member  of 
the  senior  class,  and  drew  from  him  a  ready  and  hearty 
response. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  one  pleasant  incident 
of  the  exercises  of  inauguration  day  was  the  an- 
nouncement of  a  liberal  donation  from  the  estate  of 
Hon.  Samuel  Appleton,  for  the  erection  of  a  zoologi- 
cal and  ichnological  museum.  President  Hitchcock 
had  made  the  request  a  year  previous,  and  had  given 
up  all  expectation  that  it  would  be  granted.  There 
is  reason  to  believe  that  confidence  in  the  wisdom  of 
the  new  president  conspired  with  admiration  for  the 
genius  and  science  of  his  predecessor  in  securing  the 
donation.  However  that  may  be,  the  time  of  the  an- 
nouncement was  not  accidental,  and  the  donation, 
while  it  formed  a  brilliant  and  appropriate  finale  to 
the  retiring  administration,  furnished  also  an  auspi- 
cious omen  for  the  incoming  presidency.  Nor  did  the 
omen  prove  fallacious.  The  Appleton  gift  was  only 
the  beginning  of  a  succession  of  donations  and  be- 
quests, which  amount  in  the  aggregate  to  nearly  eight 


142         A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

hundred  thousand  dollars,  and  which  mark  the  presi- 
dency of  Dr.  Stearns  beyond  even  that  of  Dr.  Hitch- 
cock, as  the  period  of  large  and  liberal  foundations. 

Even  the  Legislature  turned  a  comparatively  will- 
ing ear  to  our  petitions,  and  twice  more  opened, 
though  not  very  wide  and  apparently  for  the  last 
time,  the  treasury  of  the  Commonwealth  to  supply 
the  wants  of  Amherst  College.  The  aid  from  the 
state  in  1859  was  granted  the  more  readily  doubt- 
less because  other  institutions  shared  in  it,  and  some 
of  them  more  largely  than  Amherst  College.  The 
bill  which  became  a  law  April  2,  1859,  provided, 
that  after  a  certain  sum  had  been  received  into  the 
state  treasury  from  the  sale  of  the  Back  Bay  lands  in 
Boston,  one-half  of  the  proceeds  of  subsequent  sales 
should  be  added  to  the  Massachusetts  school  fund, 
and  the  other  half  appropriated  in  certain  propor- 
tions, as  it  accrued,  to  five  institutions  of  learning  in 
the  Commonwealth,  until  the  Museum  of  Compara- 
tive Zoology  should  have  received  an  amount  not  ex- 
ceeding one  hundred  thousand  dollars ;  Tufts  College, 
fifty  thousand  dollars;  and  Williams  College,  Am- 
herst College,  and  the  Wesleyan  Academy  at  Wilbra- 
ham,  twenty-five  thousand  dollars  each.  No  part  of 
these  appropriations  was  to  be  paid,  however,  until 
satisfactory  evidence  had  been  furnished  by  each  in- 
stitution that  it  had  raised  an  equal  sum  by  subscrip- 
tion, or  otherwise,  from  some  other  source.  It  was 
further  provided  in  the  bill,  that  each  of  the  three 
colleges  should  establish  three  free  scholarships. 
These  conditions  were  promptly  complied  with  on 
the  part  of  Amherst  College,  and  the  first  instalment 
of  six  thousand  dollars  and  a  little  more  was  paid 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  143 

over  in  September,  1861,  and  the  remainder  of  the 
twenty-five  thousand  dollars  in  September,  1863. 
On  the  2yth  of  April,  1863,  after  repeated  solicita- 
tions by  Dr.  Hitchcock  in  person,  the  Legislature 
made  another  special  grant  of  two  thousand  five  hun- 
dred dollars  to  the  department  of  natural  history. 
Here  ends  the  history  of  grants  from  the  state  in 
aid  of  Amherst  College.  Two  appropriations  of 
twenty-five  thousand  dollars  each  and  one  of  two 
thousand  five  hundred  dollars — scarcely  a  third  part 
of  what  the  state  has  granted  to  Williams,  and  not  a 
tithe  of  its  donations  to  Harvard! 

Of  all  the  donations  and  bequests  that  have  ever 
come  to  Amherst  College  those  of  Dr.  W.  J.  Walker 
were  the  most  surprising,  because  they  came  from 
so  unforeseen  and  unexpected  a  source.  A  graduate 
of  Harvard,  and  a  resident  of  one  of  those  cities  in 
the  vicinity  of  Cambridge  whose  property  seems  to 
be  almost  the  birthright  and  inheritance  of  that  uni- 
versity, Dr.  Walker  wished  and  intended  to  endow 
the  medical  department  of  his  alma  mater.  Not 
finding  her  sufficiently  facile  and  pliant  to  his  wishes, 
he  turned  his  attention  to  other  colleges,  and  began 
to  give  to  them  with  a  liberality  which  was  fitted 
and  doubtless  intended  to  show  the  authorities  at 
Cambridge  how  much  they  had  lost.  One  of  these 
colleges  was  soon  dropped  from  the  list  of  his  bene- 
ficiaries for  a  similar  reason.  President  Stearns  had 
the  discernment  to  see  the  substantial  excellence  of 
Dr.  Walker's  ideas,  and  he  had  the  wisdom  to  humor 
and  guide  his  plans,  instead  of  opposing  or  question- 
ing them,  and  thus  to  enlist  him  more  and  more 
zealously  in  the  service  of  the  college.  The  result 


144        A   HISTORY   OF  AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

was  that  he  gave  Amherst  at  different  times  and  for 
different  purposes  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  in 
his  life-time,  drew  in  forty  thousand  dollars  from 
other  sources  by  making  that  the  condition  of  his 
own  donations,  and  left  in  his  will  a  legacy,  the 
annual  income  of  which  has  averaged  more  than  six 
thousand  dollars.  The  condition  just  alluded  to 
seemed  at  the  time  not  only  unfortunate,  but  imprac- 
ticable and  appalling.  But  thanks  to  the  wisdom  of 
President  Stearns  and  the  benevolence  of  the  friends, 
chiefly  old  and  tried  friends  of  the  college,  the  forty 
thousand  dollars  was  raised.  Messrs.  Samuel  Wil- 
liston,  Samuel  A.  Hitchcock,  and'  James  Smith,  of 
Philadelphia,  gave  ten  thousand  dollars  apiece,  and 
Messrs.  Alpheus  Hardy,  Henry  Edwards,  Ebenezer 
Alden,  Moses  H.  Baldwin,  and  others  made  up  the 
remaining  ten  thousand  dollars,  thus  exhibiting  a 
generosity  the  more  praiseworthy  and  thankworthy, 
because  their  charities  were  to  be  merged  in  a 
"Walker  Building  Fund,"  and  their  own  preferences 
were  sacrificed  for  so  great  an  interest  of  the  insti- 
tution. 

The  presidency  of  Dr.  Stearns  is  emphatically  the 
period  of  scholarships  and  prizes.  Aside  from  the 
distribution  of  the  income  of  the  charity  fund, 
which  really  constituted  so  many  ministerial  scholar- 
ships and  is  now  actually  called  by  that  name,  there 
was  not  a  single  scholarship  in  existence  at  the  be- 
ginning of  his  administration.  Eleazar  Porter,  Esq., 
of  Hadley,  has  the  honor  of  having  established  the 
first  scholarship  in  Amherst  College.  This  was  in 
1857.  Before  the  close  of  the  administration  there 
were  more  than  fifty  scholarships  over  and  above 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  145 

those  from  the  charity  fund  in  the  gift  of  the  college, 
varying  in  annual  income  from  forty  to  three  hun- 
dred dollars  each,  and  distributing  each  year  over 
four  thousand  dollars  among  the  students. 

The  only  prizes  that  existed  prior  to  the  adminis- 
tration of  President  Stearns  were  those  for  elocution, 
and  these  had  usually  been  merely  nominal,  and 
were  paid  out  of  the  college  treasury.  The  first  reg- 
ular prizes  given  by  an  individual  for  successive  years 
were  given  by  J.  H.  Sweetser,  Esq.,  a  former  resi- 
dent of  Amherst  then  residing  in  New  York  city. 
These  were  given  under  the  presidency  of  Dr.  Hitch- 
cock. In  1857  Hon.  Alpheus  Hardy  of  Boston  estab- 
lished the  Hardy  prizes  for  improvement  in  extem- 
poraneous speaking;  and  now  we  have  some  two 
thousand  dollars  distributed  every  year  as  prizes  for 
excellence  in  nearly  all  of  the  several  departments. 

Of  the  twelve  college  edifices  that  stood  on  College 
Hill  at  the  time  of  his  death,  six  were  added  during 
the  presidency  of  Dr.  Stearns.  And  the  style  and 
character  of  these,  as  compared  with  the  earlier 
buildings,  is  more  remarkable  than  their  number. 
The  last  three  were  built  of  stone,  the  Pelham  or 
Monson  granite,  and  the  last  two,  at  least,  in  a  plan 
and  style  of  architecture  worthy  of  a  material  that 
is  at  once  so  rich  and  so  enduring.  The  new  college 
church  alone  cost  as  much  as  the  whole  five  edifices 
that  came  down  from  previous  administrations ;  and 
Walker  Hall  cost  as  much  as  all  the  other  buildings 
on  College  Hill  together,  exclusive  of  the  college 
church.  It  is  scarcely  an  exaggeration  to  say  that 
President  Stearns  found  the  college  brick,  and  left  it 
granite. 


146         A    HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

The  first  building  erected  after  the  accession  of 
President  Stearns  was  the  Appleton  Cabinet.  This 
was  built  in  1855.  The  building  committee  consisted 
of  Prof.  Edward  Hitchcock,  Mr.  Samuel  Williston, 
and  Prof.  William  S.  Clark,  and  Mr.  H.  A.  Sykes  was 
the  architect — the  same  under  whose  direction  the 
Woods  Cabinet  and  the  library  had  been  built.  It  was 
the  preference  of  Dr.  Hitchcock  that  this  edifice  should 
be  placed  on  the  west  side  of  the  Woods  Cabinet, 
where  the  danger  from  fire  would  have  been  less,  and 
where  it  would  have  been  in  convenient  contiguity 
with  the  geological  specimens.  The  building  com- 
mittee acceded  to  his  views  and  wishes,  and  at  first 
located  it  there,  but  their  opinion  was  overruled  by 
that  of  the  Prudential  Committee,  on  the  ground 
that  the  appearance  would  be  unsightly.  Mr.  Luke 
Sweetser,  who  for  many  years  has  been  a  resident 
member  of  the  prudential  committee,  remonstrated 
with  special  earnestness  against  that  location,  and,  in 
order  to  remove  the  chief  argument  in  its  favor,  vol- 
unteered to  put  up  a  lecture-room  as  an  appendage 
to  the  Woods  Cabinet,  if  it  could  be  done  for  a  thou- 
sand dollars.  This  view  prevailed,  and  the  Appleton 
Cabinet  was  placed  on  the  south  wing  of  the  dormi- 
tories, thus  taking  the  place  of  a  new  South  College, 
which  had  long  been  contemplated  to  balance  the  old 
North  College,  then  on  the  site  of  Williston  Hall, 
and  the  geological  lecture-room  was  at  the  same  time 
attached  to  the  Woods  Cabinet.  Mr.  Sweetser  de- 
clined having  his  name  affixed  to  it. 

In  1857  the  Woods  Cabinet  received  another  ap- 
pendage in  the  Nineveh  Gallery,  which  was  erected 
by  Enos  Dickinson,  Esq.,  of  South  Amherst,  on  "the 


o 

t 


A    HISTORY    OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  147 

site  of  the  old  church,  where  for  thirty  years  he  had 
attended  meeting,  where  he  was  baptized  and  made 
a  profession  of  religion,"  and  of  which  he  remarked 
to  Dr.  Hitchcock,  "  that  if  he  should  desire  to  leave 
his  name  anywhere  on  earth,  that  would  be  the 
spot."1  The  building  cost  five  hundred  and  sixty- 
seven  dollars.  It  is  a  small  room,  but  it  is  probably 
as  large  as  that  in  the  palace  of  Nimroud  from  which 
the  sculptured  slabs  were  taken.  The  contents  cost 
some  six  hundred  dollars.  Their  money  value  is  at 
least  as  many  thousands,  and  their  value  to  the  col- 
lege as  educators  and  as  memorials  is  beyond  calcu- 
lation. The  sculptured  slabs,  six  in  number,  some 
of  which  now  adorn  the  entrance  to  the  college 
library,  came  from  the  palace  of  Sardanapalus ;  the 
seals,  cylinders,  and  bricks  from  Nineveh  and  Baby- 
lon ;  the  coins  of  gold,  silver,  and  copper,  a  thousand 
in  number,  mostly  ancient,  and  commencing  with 
those  of  Alexander  the  Great,  were  all  procured  and 
sent  at  great  labor  and  expense  by  Dr.  Henry  Lob- 
dell,  missionary  to  Assyria,  of  the  class  of  '49,  who, 
in  December,  1854,  made  his  sixth  visit  to  Nimroud 
in  order  to  dispatch  the  sculptures,  and  who  died  at 
Mosul,  the  site  of  ancient  Nineveh,  on  the  25th 
day  of  March,  1855.  For  the  gallery  and  its  contents 
the  college  is  indebted  ultimately  and  entirely  to  the 
agency  of  Dr.  Hitchcock,  who  encouraged  Dr.  Lob- 
dell  to  send  the  specimens,  raised  the  money  to  pay 
all  the  expenses,  superintended  the  whole  business, 
and  in  short  manifested  scarcely  less  interest  in  these 
footprints  of  former  generations  of  men,  than  in  the 
ichnolites  of  the  pre-Adamic  earth  in  his  own  cabinet. 

1  "Reminiscences  of  Amherst  College." 


148         A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

The  next  public  buildings  were  the  result  of  a 
calamity  which,  as  not  unfrequently  happens,  proved 
a  blessing  in  disguise.  One  cold  and  stormy  night 
in  the  winter  of  1857,  when  the  northwest  wind  blew 
almost  a  hurricane  and  the  thermometer  was  many 
degrees  below  zero,  the  old  North  College  caught 
fire  in  a  student's  room.  The  occupants  of  the  room 
and  nearly  all  the  occupants  of  the  building  were  in 
attendance  on  the  meetings  of  the  literary  societies 
in  the  Middle  and  South  Colleges.  Before  they 
could  give  or  get  the  alarm,  the  fire  had  progressed 
so  far  as  to  forbid  even  the  attempt  to  extinguish  it. 
All  efforts  were  directed  toward  saving  the  other 
buildings.  Had  the  wind  been  in  the  north  or  north- 
east, this  would  have  been  impossible.  Being  in  the 
northwest  the  flames  and  burning  fragments  were 
for  the  most  part  driven  to  the  eastward ;  otherwise, 
in  spite  of  all  exertions,  Middle  College  must  have 
taken  fire,  and  to  all  human  appearance  the  chapel, 
South  College,  and  the  newly-erected  Appleton  Cab- 
inet would  all  have  been  swept  away  by  the  con- 
flagration. By  midnight  or  a  little  later,  North  Col- 
lege with  no  small  portion  of  its  contents — the 
furniture  and  books  of  students — had  gone  up  in  a 
whirlwind  of  flame  or  had  been  reduced  to  ashes. 
Such  was  the  uproar  of  the  elements  that  night  that 
the  writer  in  his  own  house  in  the  edge  of  the  village, 
not  half  a  mile  away,  heard  no  alarm  and  knew  noth- 
ing of  the  calamity  till,  early  the  next  morning,  he 
was  summoned  to  a  faculty  meeting  called  for  con- 
sultation in  the  emergency.  When  he  arrived  on  the 
ground,  nothing  remained  but  the  blackened  brick 
walls  enclosing  a  heap  of  smoking  ruins.  The  fire 


[UNIVERSITY, 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  149 

was  an  undoubted  blessing  in  that  it  enlisted  the 
sympathy  of  friends  and  ere  long  gave  us  two  better 
buildings  in  its  stead.  The  appeal  of  the  faculty  in 
behalf  of  the  students,  some  of  whom  had  lost  every- 
thing but  what  they  had  on  their  persons,  met  with 
so  prompt  and  hearty  a  response  that  ere  long  we 
issued  a  card  saying  that  no  more  was  needed.  And 
scarcely  had  the  ruins  ceased  to  smoke,  when,  with 
characteristic  promptness  as  well  as  generosity,  Mr. 
Williston,  that  unfailing  friend  of  the  college,  vol- 
unteered to  erect  on  the  site  a  new  edifice  containing 
a  chemical  laboratory,  rooms  for  the  libraries  and 
the  meetings  of  the  two  literary  societies,  and  an 
alumni  hall,  if  the  trustees  would  engage,  with  the 
insurance  and  additional  subscriptions,  to  replace 
the  lost  dormitory  on  another  site.  This  condition, 
which,  like  Dr.  Walker's  in  regard  to  Walker  Hall, 
was,  of  course,  intended  only  to  double  the  benefac- 
tion, was  accepted  by  the  trustees,  and  the  new  build- 
ings were  both  erected  in  1857,  the  same  year  in 
which  the  old  dormitory  was  burnt.  Both  edifices  were 
built  under  the  general  direction  of  Mr.  Williston, 
Mr.  Charles  E.  Parkes  of  Boston  being  the  architect, 
and  Professor  Clark  and  Mr.  Luke  Sweetser  being 
associated  with  the  former  as  building  committee  in 
the  erection  of  East  College.  Thus,  to  express  in 
Dr.  Stearns'  own  language  the  "great  blessing" 
which  resulted  from  the  "great  catastrophe,"  "two 
new  buildings  sprang  up  from  the  ashes  of  the  old, 
one  of  them  Williston  Hall,  so  comely  in  appearance, 
so  convenient  in  arrangement,  so  generously  be- 
stowed, and  so  full  of  invitation  to  the  returning 
graduate  as  he  comes  up  from  the  village  to  the 


ISO         A   HISTORY   OF  AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

college  grounds;  the  other,  East  College,  which  the 
prophets  represented  as  destined  to  be  taken  down 
and  rebuilt,  or  moved  bodily  to  another  spot."  l 

The  dedication  of  the  two  buildings,  delayed  for 
several  reasons,  took  place  on  the  i9th  of  May,  1858. 
The  trustees  held  a  special  meeting  on  the  occasion. 
Mr.  Williston  and  Mr.  Sweetser  reported  the  results 
of  their  labors,  and  formally  delivered  the  buildings 
into  the  hands  of  the  trustees.  President  Stearns,  on 
the  part  of  the  trustees,  made  a  suitable  response. 
Prayer  was  offered  by  Rev.  Dr.  Vaill,  and  Rev. 
Henry  Ward  Beecher  delivered  an  address,  in  which, 
as  fitly  as  eloquently,  he  discoursed  on  institutions 
as  a  means  of  perpetuating  influence. 

The  next  building  was  the  gymnasium,  now  aban- 
doned for  a  more  modern  building.  This  was  com- 
menced in  the  autumn  of  1859,  and  completed  in  the 
summer  of  1860.  Hon.  J.  B.  Woods,  Prof.  W.  S. 
Clark,  Hon.  Samuel  Williston,  and  the  president 
were  appointed  a  committee,  with  full  powers  to  col- 
lect funds,  procure  plans,  select  a  site,  and  erect  the 
building.  "  Subscriptions  were  obtained  by  Prof. 
W.  S.  Clark,  Prof.  W.  S.  Tyler,  and  some  others,  to 
the  amount  of  about  five  thousand  dollars.  For  the 
other  five  thousand  dollars  the  college  resorted  again 
to  borrowing."2  The  building  was  planned  by  the 
same  architect  as  Williston  Hall  and  East  College, 
Mr.  Charles  E.  Parkes  of  Boston.  President  Hitch- 
cock says:  "It  is  massive  in  appearance,  without 

1  Address  of  Welcome. 

2  Dr.  Hitchcock's  "Reminiscences."     The  trustees  had  al- 
ready borrowed  five  thousand  dollars  to  supplement  the  sub- 
scriptions for  East  College. 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST    COLLEGE.  I$I 

much  architectural  beauty,  though  in  conformity 
with  architectural  rules."  To  the  eye  of  the  writer, 
it  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  buildings  on  the  col- 
lege campus.  It  has  the  beauty  of  fitness  and  the 
beauty,  rare  in  our  day,  of  a  severe  simplicity.  The 
builders  had  the  good  sense  and  good  taste  to  return 
to  the  use  of  stone,1  instead  of  brick,  in  which  their 
example  has  been  followed  in  subsequent  buildings, 
and  will  be  followed,  we  trust,  in  all  coming  time. 
Upon  the  completion  of  the  building,  the  name  of 
"  Barrett  Gymnasium"  was  given  to  it,  from  Dr. 
Benjamin  Barrett  of  Northampton,  who  had  contrib- 
uted liberally  toward  its  erection.  Dr.  Barrett  after- 
ward put  in  at  his  own  expense  a  gallery  at  the  west 
end,  for  the  convenience  of  spectators,  and  contrib- 
uted more  or  less  each  year  while  he  lived,  for  re- 
pairing the  building,  improving  the  apparatus,  and 
ornamenting  the  grounds.  And  at  his  death,  in 
1869,  he  left  in  his  will  a  legacy  of  five  thousand 
dollars,  the  income  of  which  is  to  be  annually  ex- 
pended for  similar  purposes. 

The  principal  of  the  Walker  building  fund,  one 
hundred  thousand  dollars,  was  filled  up  in  1864,  and 
at  a  special  meeting  of  the  trustees  in  November, 
1866,  they  appointed  a  building  committee  of  their 
own  number.  This  committee  consisted  of  Presi- 
dent Stearns,  Hon.  Samuel  Williston,  Hon.  Alpheus 
Hardy,  Hon.  Edward  B.  Gillett,  and  Samuel  Bowles, 
Esq.8  The  corner-stone  of  the  building  was  laid  on 

1  The  same  that  was  used  in  the  library  building,  viz. ,  the 
Pelham  gneiss  or  granite. 

2  A  committee,  consisting  of  the  president,  Professor  Snell, 
Professor  Seelye,  Hon.  S.  Williston,  and  Hon.  A.  Hardy,  was 

II 


152          A   HISTORY   OF  AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

the  loth  of  June,  1868;  and  it  was  not  till  the  2oth 
of  October,  1870,  that  Walker  Hall  was  opened  with 
appropriate  ceremonies.  Thus  more  than  six  years 
had  elapsed  since  the  money  was  raised,  and  more 
than  seven,  almost  eight,  years  since  Dr.  Walker 
made  his  first  offering  of  twenty  thousand  dollars  in 
January,  1863,  before  the  edifice  was  completed  and 
set  apart  for  its  scientific  uses :  tarn  diu  Roma  conde- 
batur.  But  it  was  right  and  wise  to  take  a  long  time 
in  building  a  structure  that  was  expected  to  endure 
a  long  while.  There  was  an  intrinsic  difficulty  in 
uniting  and  harmonizing  so  many  diverse  interests. 
The  whole  department  of  mathematics  and  astron- 
omy, the  recitations,  lectures,  and  apparatus  of  the 
professor  of  natural  philosophy,  the  Shepard  Cabinet 
of  Mineralogy,  and  rooms  for  the  trustees,  the  presi- 
dent, and  the  treasurer,  were  all  to  be  brought  be- 
neath one  roof,  and  what  seemed  for  a  time  quite  im- 
practicable, nearly  all  these  rooms  must  needs  be, 
where  all  the  living  rooms  of  a  house  in  this  climate 
ought  to  be,  on  the  south  side.  When  these  conflict- 
ing interests  were  all  reconciled  there  still  remained 
the  scarcely  less  difficult  question  of  a  convenient 
and  beautiful  location.  The  college  campus,  though 
sightly,  is  far  from  being  "  siteful ;"  and  a  site  satis- 
factory to  all  concerned,  and  suitable  for  such  a 
building,  was  found  at  length  only  by  the  purchase 
and  annexation  of  three  or  four  additional  acres  on 
the  north  side. 

appointed  at  a  special  meeting  of  the  board  in  Boston,  in 
January,  1863,  to  procure  plans  and  estimates.  But  a  build- 
ing that  should  cost  only  forty  thousand  dollars  was  then  con- 
templated. The  plan  was  afterward  enlarged  to  meet  the 
enlarging  views  and  the  increasing  liberality  of  Dr.  Walker. 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  153 

Several  architects  and  landscape-gardeners  were 
consulted  in  the  settlement  of  these  vexed  questions. 
More  than  one  architect  also  presented  plans  for  the 
building.  The  plan  which  best  satisfied  the  parties 
chiefly  concerned,  and  indeed  the  only  plan  which 
solved  the  almost  insoluble  difficulties  of  the  problem 
and  united  beauty  with  convenience,  was  that  of 
George  Hathorne,  of  New  York.  This  plan  was 
adopted,  and  he  became  the  architect  of  the  building. 
The  contract  for  the  masonry  was  given  to  Richard 
H.  Ponsonby,  and  that  for  the  carpenter  work  to  C. 
W.  Lessey.  The  immediate  oversight  was  entrusted 
to  William  A.  Dickinson,  Esq.,  of  Amherst.  The 
laying  of  the  corner-stone  with  due  form  and  cere- 
mony took  place  on  the  forenoon  of  Class  Day,  June 
10,  1868.  Hon.  Edward  Dickinson  presided  and  in- 
troduced the  services.  Prayer  was  offered  by  Rev. 
Dr.  Vaill.  The  stone  was  placed  with  appropriate 
ceremonies  by  the  senior  class,  who  had  desired  to 
honor  their  Class  Day  by  this  act  and  had  selected  a 
committee  of  their  number  for  the  purpose.  A  hymn 
was  sung  by  the  college  choir.  A  paper  was  read  by 
President  Stearns,  making  some  statements  respect- 
ing the  character  and  design  of  the  building,  to- 
gether with  notices  of  Dr.  Walker  and  the  principal 
donors.  After  a  few  extemporaneous  remarks  by 
Hori.  Alpheus  Hardy  and  Professor  Snell,  the  exer- 
cises were  concluded  by  singing  the  doxology  and 
the  pronouncing  of  the  benediction. 

After  an  interval  of  two  years  and  four  months, 
on  the  2oth  of  October,  1870,  the  formal  opening  of 
Walker  Hall  took  place.  The  order  of  exercises  was 
as  follows:  In  College  Hall — Music  by  the  orches- 


154         A   HISTORY   OF  AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

tra;  Introductory  prayer  by  Rev.  Mr.  Dwight  of 
Hadley;  Address  by  President  Stearns;  Commence- 
ment hymn,  "Let  children  hear  the  mighty  deeds." 
In  Walker  Hall — Music  by  the  band ;  Statement  by 
W.  A.  Dickinson,  Esq. ;  Prayer  by  Rev.  Dr.  Paine 
of  Holden ;  Statement  by  Professor  Snell ;  Speeches 
by  members  of  the  board  of  trustees  and  by  gentle- 
men from  abroad;  "Old  Hundred,"  by  the  audience. 

The  opening  of  Walker  Hall  removed  the  last  ves- 
tige of  scientific  instruction  from  the  old  chapel 
building,  where  all  the  departments  dwelt  together 
for  so  many  years,  and  left  literature  and  philosophy 
the  sole  occupants.  Two  things  are  illustrated  by 
this  part  of  our  history,  first  the  progress  of  division 
of  labor  in  the  college,  and  secondly  the  growth  of 
the  institution  in  all  its  departments. 

The  original  don  at;  on  of  thirty  thousand  dollars 
for  the  college  church  was  made  in  1864.  Seven  or 
eight  years  elapsed  before  the  edifice  was  finished. 
The  delay  was  partly  to  give  time  for  the  increase  of 
the  building  fund,  and  partly  owing  to  the  difficulty 
of  fixing  the  location,  but  chiefly,  as  in  the  case  of 
Walker  Hall,  with  the  intention  of  building  well 
rather  than  building  quickly. 

The  question  of  location  long  occasioned  much 
perplexity,  and  opinions  differed  widely  on  the  sub- 
ject. The  unanimous  verdict  of  the  most  distin- 
guished architects  decided  the  question  in  favor  of 
the  present  site,  just  in  the  rear  of  East  College,  but 
necessitating  at  some  time  the  removal  of  that  build- 
ing. "It  might  seem,"  says  President  Stearns  in 
his  address  at  the  laying  of  the  corner-stone — "it 
might  seem  to  our  old  graduates  and  to  others  who 


OF  THE 

.UNIVERSITY 

CALIFORNIA 


A   HISTORY    OF  AMHERST   COLLEGE.  155 

have  not  studied  the  case,  an  unexpected  and  singu- 
lar movement,  to  pass  over,  as  we  have  done,  into 
what  was  regarded  heretofore  as  the  back-yard  of 
our  college  grounds,  and  crowd  the  new  edifice  into 
the  very  mouth  of  the  dormitory  which  has  for  some 
years  crowned  the  knoll.  But  looking  from  East 
College,  destined  some  time  or  other  to  be  removed, 
let  me  say  to  each  one  who  doubts  the  propriety  of 
the  location,  Circumspice.  Think  of  a  pleasant  Sab- 
bath morning  as  our  young  men  and  families  of 
many  generations  of  the  future  throng  to  the  house 
of  prayer  and  see  the  beauty  of  the  Lord  spread  over 
the  mountains  and  the  intervale  before  us  and  the 
quiet  homes  nestling  within  it,  and  tell  me,  will  not 
nature  furnish  inspirations  to  praise?  If  we  need 
further  reason,  it  may  be  expressed  in  the  brief 
words  of  Mr.  Williston,  who  has  often  surprised  me 
with  the  breadth  and  wisdom  of  his  views  on  such 
subjects.  When  the  advice  of  the  best  architectural 
and  gardening  skill  in  the  country  had  been  obtained, 
and  reasons  set  forth,  and  the  final  question  was  put 
to  that  gentleman,  Shall  we  plan  the  building  for 
present  convenience  or  for  a  hundred  years  to  come? 
his  immediate  response  was,  'Five  hundred  years  to 
come!'*  The  committee  to  whom  by  vote  of  the 
trustees  in  1869  the  whole  subject  was  referred,  con- 
sisted of  President  Stearns,  William  F.  Stearns,  Esq., 
Messrs.  Williston,  Hardy,  and  Gillett,  and  Mr.  W. 
A.  Dickinson.  William  A.  Potter,  Esq.,  of  New 
York,  was  the  architect.  The  church  was  erected 
under  the  personal  oversight  and  direct  superintend- 
ence of  President  Stearns,  to  whose  watchful  eye  and 
excellent  taste,  scarcely  less  than  to  the  art  and 


156         A   HISTORY    OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

science  of  the  architect,  the  building  owes  its  per- 
fection. 

The  corner-stone  was  laid  on  the  22d  of  September, 
1870,  with  the  following  order  of  exercises:  Prelim- 
inary Statement  by  the  President;  Introductory 
prayer  by  Prof.  W.  S.  Tyler ;  Address  by  Rev.  Chris- 
topher Gushing,  of  Boston ;  Placing  of  the  stone  by 
the  senior  class  (Class  of  '71);  Hymn,  "Christ  is 
our  Corner-Stone ;"  Prayer  by  Rev.  J.  L.  Jenkins, 
of  Amherst ;  Doxology ;  Benediction. 

The  following  passages  from  the  president's  pre- 
liminary statement  should  be  put  on  record  as  show- 
ing his  views  and  those  of  the  donor,  William  F. 
Stearns,  Esq.,  in  regard  to  this  edifice:  "  We  have 
assembled  to  place  the  corner-stone  of  an  edifice, 
which,  in  accordance  with  the  great  idea  of  the  col- 
lege, 'the  highest  education  and  all  for  Christ,'  is  to 
be,  when  completed  and  dedicated,  the  college 
church.  In  pursuing  this  principle  which  has  al- 
ways actuated  some  of  us,  a  desire  has  long  existed, 
since  we  have  public  worship  together,  to  hold  the 
religious  services  of  the  Sabbath,  as  other  churches 
do,  in  a  retired,  consecrated  Sabbath  home,  from 
which  all  the  studies  and  distractions  of  the  week 
should  be  excluded,  and  where  the  suggestions  of  the 
place  should  assist  us  to  gather  in  our  thoughts,  and 
in  the  enjoyment  of  sacred  silence  to  confer  with 
God. 

"  Some  of  the  views  of  the  donor  in  furnishing  the 
means  for  the  college  church  were  thus  expressed  to 
the  trustees  at  the  time  they  were  given,  and  in  the 
same  spirit  they  were  gratefully  accepted  by  them. 
i.  The  church  is  to  be  used  by  the  college  for  strictly 


A    HISTORY   OF  AMHERST   COLLEGE.          157 

religious  observances,  especially  for  Christian  wor- 
ship and  preaching,  and  for  no  other  purpose.  2. 
The  preacher  shall  always  profess  his  full  and  ear- 
nest belief  in  the  religion  of  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ments as  a  supernatural  revelation  from  God,  and  in 
Jesus  Christ  as  the  divine  and  only  Saviour,  'who 
was  crucified  for  our  sins  and  raised  again  for  our 
justification/  and  generally  for  substance  of  doctrine 
in  the  evangelical  system  or  gospel  of  Christ  as  un- 
derstood by  the  projectors  and  founders  of  the  col- 
lege. 3.  The  preacher  in  the  pulpit,  and  in  all  the 
exercises  of  this  church,  shall  exhibit  that  sobriety, 
dignity,  and  reverence  of  manner  and  expression 
which  becomes  the  sacredness  of  the  place,  and  is 
in  keeping  with  those  solemn  emotions  which  true 
Christians  are  supposed  to  experience." 

The  college  church,  not  less  than  Walker  Hall, 
embodies  an  idea  and  a  department.  A  new  depart- 
ment, as  we  shall  see  further  on,  was  founded  the 
same  year  in  which  funds  were  set  apart  tor  building 
the  church.  The  college  church  represents  this  de- 
partment, gives  it  as  it  were  a  body  and  a  form,  and 
expresses  the  idea,  not  only  of  a  place  set  apart  ex- 
pressly for  the  Sabbath  worship  and  service,  but  also 
of  a  professorship  whose  undivided  energies  should 
be  sacredly  devoted  to  the  religious  welfare  of  the 
college.  Combining  in  its  architectural  plan  and 
style  the  beautiful  and  the  useful  of  successive  ages, 
it  represents  the  religion  of  the  college  as  uniting  all 
that  is  true  and  good  in  the  past  history  of  the  church 
with  whatsoever  things  are  pure  and  lovely  in  our 
own  age;  and  being  unquestionably  the  brightest 
architectural  jewel  on  the  brow  of  College  Hill,  it 


158         A   HISTORY   OF  AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

fitly  expresses  the  paramount   excellence   and  im- 
portance of  the  religion  of  Christ  in  college  education. 

After  the  close  of  the  war,  several  unsuccessful  ef- 
forts were  made  to  secure  a  suitable  memorial  for 
those  students  who  had  sacrificed  their  lives  for  their 
country.  A  public  hall  adorned  with  relics  and 
trophies  of  the  war,  a  lecture  room  and  professorship 
of  history,  a  monument  on  the  grounds,  a  monumen- 
tal group  of  statues  and  tablets  within  doors, — all 
these  were  contemplated,  some  of  them  voted  by  the 
alumni  and  attempted,  but  all,  for  different  reasons," 
proved  unsatisfactory,  or  at  least  unsuccessful.  This 
difficult  question  found  at  length  an  unexpected  and 
most  satisfactory  solution  in  connection  with  the  col- 
lege church.  A  chime  of  bells  of  unsurpassed  excel- 
lence, placed  in  the  tower  by  George  Howe,  Esq.,  of 
Boston,  whose  own  son,  a  graduate  of  Amherst,  fell 
a  sacrifice  to  the  war,  answers  the  double  purpose, 
to  use  the  language  of  President  Stearns,  of  "  throw- 
ing out  upon  the  breezes  the  sweet  invitation  of 
Christian  psalmody  to  worship  on  the  Lord's  day, 
and  of  commemorating  in  patriotic  and  soothing 
melodies,  on  appropriate  occasions,  the  nobleness  of 
our  sons  and  brothers  who  honored  the  college,  while 
they  shed  their  blood  for  Christ  and  dear  native 
land." 

Before  any  provision  was  made  or  expected  for  a 
new  church,  the  rooms  in  the  old  chapel  building 
had  become  so  deformed  and  dilapidated  that  thor- 
ough repairs  were  absolutely  necessary.  These  re- 
pairs were  made  gradually,  under  the  superintend- 
ence of  W.  A.  Dickinson,  Esq.  They  cost  nearly  as 
much  as  the  original  building.  But  they  gave  us 


€s 
Of  THE 
VERSITY 
J 


COLLEGE   HALL. 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  159 

possession  of  rooms  far  surpassing  the  original  ones 
in  convenience  and  elegance.  The  form  of  the 
rooms  underwent  little  or  no  change.  But  they  were 
entirely  refitted,  frescoed,  and  furnished,  and  the 
recitation  rooms,  beginning  with  the  Greek  room, 
and  extending  gradually  to  the  others,  being  adorned 
with  maps  and  charts,  photographs  and  engravings, 
bronzes  and  marbles  illustrative  of  Greek  and  Roman 
art  and  antiquities,  became  teachers,  no  longer  of 
rudeness  and  slovenliness,  but  of  order,  truth,  and 
beauty.  While  the  chapel  proper  was  undergoing 
repairs,  the  present  Art  room,  in  Williston  Hall, 
served  as  our  place  of  worship. 

When  the  village  church  had  completed  their  new 
and  costly  church  edifice  on  Main  Street  in  1867,  the 
trustees  purchased  the  old  edifice  in  which  they  al- 
ready owned  a  share,  in  consideration  of  its  annual 
use  for  commencements,  thoroughly  remodelled  and 
repaired  it  externally  and  internally,  thus  divesting 
it  in  a  great  measure  of  its  "  astonishing"  ugliness, 
and  so  acquired  College  Hall,  one  of  the  most  con- 
venient and  useful  buildings  on  the  college  grounds. 

While  the  college  had  thus  been  erecting  or  acquir- 
ing these  convenient  and  beautiful  buildings,  a  cor- 
responding improvement  had  been  going  vnparipassu 
in  the  college  grounds.  Mr.  Williston,  Dr.  Barrett, 
Mr.  Hayden,  and  others  made  donations  for  this  pur- 
pose. Appropriations  were  voted  from  time  to  time 
from  the  college  treasury.  Early  under  the  presi- 
dency of  Dr.  Stearns,  the  ground  south  of  the  grove 
was  carefully  prepared  for  cricket  and  base-ball. 
The  annexation  of  a  part  of  the  Boltwood  farm,  and 
the  grading  about  Walker  Hall  and  the  college 


160         A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

church,  involved  great  changes  in  the  college  grounds 
and  became  the  occasion  of  the  greatest  improve- 
ment that  has  been  made  in  them,  by  providing  new 
drives  and  walks,  furnishing  more  convenient  access 
and  entrance,  and  opening  to  visitors  more  inviting 
views  of  the  buildings,  with  charming  vistas  of  the 
eastern  hills  in  the  background. 

In  1868,  Leavitt  Hallock,  Esq.,  having  purchased, 
together  with  the  farm  of  which  it  was  a  part,  the 
grove  formerly  known  as  Baker's  Grove,  between 
Pratt  and  Blake  fields,  and  near  which  the  students 
for  a  time  had  a  ball  ground,  and  having  adorned  it 
with  drives  and  walks,  gave  it  in  trust  to  the  college 
on  the  single  condition  that  the  trustees  should  pre- 
serve, improve,  and  keep  it  forever  as  a  public  park. 
The  trustees  gratefully  accepted  the  donation  and 
gave  it  the  name  of  Hallock  Park.  It  contains  some 
seven  acres  of  ancient  and  venerable  oaks  and  pines, 
such  as  can  scarcely  be  found  anywhere  else  in 
western  Massachusetts. 

If  now  we  turn  our  attention  to  the  departments  of 
instruction,  we  shall  find  that  they  kept  even  pace 
with  these  improvements  in  the  buildings  and 
grounds.  During  the  presidency  of  Dr.  Stearns,  three 
new  departments  were  established,  represented  sev- 
erally by  the  three  then  most  recent  buildings,  viz. : 
the  department  of  hygiene  and  physical  education, 
by  the  Barrett  Gymnasium ;  that  of  mathematics  and 
astronomy  by  Walker  Hall;  and  that  of  Biblical 
history  and  interpretation  and  the  pastoral  care,  by 
the  college  church. 

Physical  education  was  a  prominent  topic  in  the 
inaugural  address  of  President  Stearns.  After  in- 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  l6l 

sisting  on  the  natural  connection  between  bodily  dis- 
arrangement on  the  one  hand  and  intellectual  infe- 
riority as  well  as  moral  perversity  on  the  other,  and 
contrasting  the  perfection  of  physical  form,  health, 
and  strength  developed  by  the  palastra  and  the  gym- 
nasium in  ancient  systems  of  educationjtvith  the  par- 
tial deformity,  the  languid  step,  stooping  shoulders, 
cadaverous  countenances,  and  physical  degeneracy 
induced  by  neglect  of  bodily  training  in  modern 
times,  he  says :  "  Physical  education  is  not  the  lead- 
ing business  of  college  life,  though  were  I  able,  like 
Alfred  or  Charlemagne,  to  plan  an  educational  sys- 
tem anew,  I  would  seriously  consider  the  expediency 
of  introducing  regular  drills  in  gymnastic  and  calis- 
thenic  exercises."  The  idea,  thus  early  conceived 
and  expressed,  grew  in  the  president's  mind  with 
every  year's  experience,  till  it  became  a  new  de- 
partment. In  each  successive  annual  report  to  the 
trustees  he  called  their  attention  with  increasing 
earnestness  to  the  failing  health  and  waning  strength 
and  in  some  instances  the  premature  death  of  stu- 
dents, especially  in  the  spring  of  the  year,  as  in  his 
opinion  wholly  unnecessary.  In  his  report  for  1859,  / 
he  says :  "  If  a  moderate  amount  of  physical  exercise 
could  be  secured  as  a  general  thing  to  every  student 
daily,  I  have  a  deep  conviction,  founded  on  close  ob- 
servation and  experience,  that  not  only  would  lives 
and  health  be  preserved,  but  animation  and  cheerful- 
ness, and  a  higher  order  of  efficient  study  and  intel- 
lectual life  would  be  secured.  It  will  be  for  the  con- 
sideration of  this  board,  whether,  for  the  encourage- 
ment of  this  sort  of  exercise,  the  time  has  not  come 
when  efficient  measures  should  be  taken  for  the  erec- 


162          A   HISTORY   OF  AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

tion  of  a  gymnasium,  and  the  procuring  of  its  proper 
appointments."  The  trustees  accordingly  chose  a 
committee,  consisting  of  the  president,  Dr.  Nathan 
Allen,  Henry  Edwards,  Esq.,  and  Hon.  Alexander  H. 
Bullock,  who  reported  at  once  in  favor  of  an  immediate 
effort  for  erecting  a  gymnasium.  The  building  was 
completed,  as  we  have  seen,  in  1860.  At  the  same 
time,  the  trustees,  at  their  annual  meeting,  in 
August,  1860,  voted  to  establish  a  department  of 
physical  culture  in  the  college,  and  elected  John  W. 
Hooker,  M.D.,  of  New  Haven,  Conn.,  the  first  pro- 
fessor in  the  department.  Dr.  Hooker  was  an  excel- 
lent gymnast  and  did  much  to  inaugurate  the  new 
system  and  inspire  the  students  with  interest  in  it. 
But  owing  to  ill-health  and  other  causes  his  connec- 
tion with  the  college  ceased  after  a  few  months. 
During  the  interregnum  in  the  spring  of  1861,  taking 
advantage  of  the  excitement  which  preceded  the  war, 
Col.  Luke  Lyman  of  Northampton  was  employed  to 
give  instruction  and  training  to  students  in  military 
tactics  and  exercises. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  trustees,  in  August, 
1 86 1,  Dr.  Edward  Hitchcock,  Jr.,  a  graduate  of  the 
college,  and  of  the  Medical  School  of  Harvard  Uni- 
versity, was  appointed  professor  in  this  department. 
And  to  his  science,  skill,  patience,  and  rare  tact  in 
managing  students,  under  the  wise  and  efficient 
direction  and  cooperation  of  President  Stearns,  we 
are  indebted  for  the  remarkable  success  in  Amherst 
College  of  a  department  which  almost  everywhere 
else  has  proved  a  failure.  The  characteristic  and 
essential  features  to  which  it  owes  its  success  are 
two:  In  the  first  place,  the  gymnasium  is  only  part 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  163 

"and  parcel,  or,  if  you  please,  the  head  and  front,  of  a 
department  of  anatomy,  physiology,  and  physical 
culture,  which  is  committed  to  an  educated  physician 
and  man  of  science,  who  is  specially  charged  with 
the  health  of  the  students,  as  other  professors  are 
charged  with  the  several  branches  of  mental  educa- 
tion. In  the  second  place,  unless  excused  by  the 
professor  for  special  reasons,  every  student  is  re- 
quired to  exercise  under  the  professor  in  the  gymna- 
sium half  an  hour  daily  for  four  days  in  the  week, 
just  as  much  as  he  is  required  to  attend  the  recita- 
tions and  lectures  in  any  other  department.  One 
other  characteristic  has  contributed  largely  to  the 
popularity  and  success  of  Dr.  Hitchcock's  manage- 
ment of  gymnastic  exercises.  He  knows  how  to  in- 
termingle recreation  and  amusement  with  the  severer 
drill  of  the  gymnasium,  maintaining  military  order 
and  discipline  during  a  portion  of  each  half-hour, 
and  then  allowing  them  to  break  up  into  sections  or 
squads,  and  take  such  exercise  and  recreation  as  they 
choose,  so  that  the  classes  come  to  the  gymnasium 
with  much  of  the  same  relish  and  zest  with  which 
they  go  to  the  ball  ground,  and  go  through  a  part  of 
their  exercises,  as  well  as  leave  them,  often  with 
laughter  and  shouts. 

The  attractiveness  of  the  exercises  in  the  gymna- 
sium to  the  public  was  and  still  is  seen  in  the  num- 
ber of  visitors.  "From  September,  1866,  to  the 
close  of  the  college  year  in  July,  1867,  there  were 
present  at  these  exercises  five  thousand  nine  hun- 
dred and  fifty-eight  persons  as  visitors,  and  from 
September,  1867,  to  July  10,  1868,  the  number  was 
four  thousand  seven  hundred  and  ninety-eight,  more 


164         A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST    COLLEGE. 

than  one-fourth  of  whom  were  ladies ;  and  the  aver- 
age number  of  visitors  present  at  each  exercise  was 
over  ten  for  both  years."  l  In  his  report  for  1869-70, 
the  professor  reckons  the  yearly  average  of  visitors 
as  four  thousand  seven  hundred  and  eighty-seven. 
It  is  probable  that  the  number  is  still  larger  now. 
The  prize  exhibitions,  which  occur  once  or  twice  a 
year,  always  draw  crowds  of  spectators. 

In  summing  up  the  results  of  the  experiment  in 
1869,  Dr.  Allen,  to  whose  professional  knowledge 
and  constant  supervision  as  one  of  the  trustees  this 
department  owes  more  than  to  any  one  else,  except 
President  Stearns  and  Professor  Hitchcock,  testifies 
to  a  decided  improvement  in  the  countenances  and 
general  physique  of  the  students,  in  the  use  of  their 
limbs  and  physical  movements  generally,  in  their 
cheerfulness  and  buoyancy  of  spirits,  in  their  sani- 
tary condition  and  in  their  vital  statistics,  besides 
many  incidental  advantages,  such  as  elevating  the 
standard  of  scholarship,  preventing  vicious  and 
irregular  habits,  and  aiding  the  government  and  dis- 
cipline of  the  institution. 

The  department  of  mathematics  and  astronomy, 
including  the  professorship,  the  instructorships  and 
the  prize  scholarships,  was  not  only  founded  by  Dr. 
Walker,  but  shaped  to  meet  his  views,  and  carefully 
defined  in  the  terms  and  conditions  of  the  several 
endowments.  The  documents  in  which  the  founder 
defines  his  views  and  wishes,  and  which  constitute 
the  statutes  of  the  foundation,  are  spread  out  at 

1  See  "Physical  Culture  in  Amherst  College,"  a  pamphlet  by 
Dr.  Nathan  Allen,  published  at  the  request  of  the  trustees, 
1869. 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST    COLLEGE.  165 

length  on  the  records  of  the  trustees,  where  they  fill 
twelve  entire,  closely  written  folio  pages.  The  first 
document  which  accompanied  the  endowment  of  the 
Walker  professorship  of  mathematics  and  astronomy 
contains  a  minute  description  of  the  ends  for 
which,  and  the  ways  in  which,  in  the  opinion  of  the 
founder,  mathematics  should  be  taught,  under  the 
heads  of  arithmetic,  geometry,  algebra,  and  trigo- 
nometry. 

In  accordance  with  these  views,  William  C.  Esty, 
of  the  class  of  '60,  was  chosen  instructor  in  1862, 
and  in  1863  professor  of  mathematics  and  astron- 
omy. His  trial  for  the  professorship  was  the  calcu- 
lation of  the  orbits  of  the  satellites  of  Jupiter — a 
work  which  had  never  before  been  done,  and  which 
occupied  him  for  two  years.  The  examination  was 
by  Professor  Pierce,  of  Harvard  College,  by  whom 
also  the  subject  had  been  assigned  or  rather  sug- 
gested for  the  choice  of  Mr.  Esty. 

The  Walker  instructorship  was  founded  in  1863. 
It  provides  for  the  appointment  by  the  trustees  of 
some  recent  graduate  of  superior  scholarship  and 
promise,  as  a  special  instructor  or  tutor,  to  give  in- 
struction to  select  divisions  of  the  sophomore  and 
freshman  classes.  The  characteristic  features  of 
this  foundation  are:  i.  Small  divisions,  each  consist- 
ing of  not  more  than  ten  or  twelve  students;  2.  No 
instructor  to  be  employed  longer  than  three  years, 
but  another  to  be  chosen  to  take  his  place  from  those 
graduates  who  have  availed  themselves  of  the  bene- 
fits of  this  provision  and  are  esteemed  by  the  trus- 
tees of  the  college  as  most  deserving. 

The  same  year  in  which  the  funds  were  given  for 


\UNIVERSITY, 

OF 


l66          A   HISTORY    OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

the  College  Church,  1864,  another  gentleman,  without 
any  knowledge  of  that  donation,  offered  to  the  trus- 
tees, in  a  letter  to  the  president,  the  sum  of  twenty 
thousand  dollars  as  a  foundation  for  a  professorship 
of  the  pastoral  care.  The  same  gentleman  had  pre- 
viously had  some  correspondence  with  Dr.  Hitch- 
cock as  well  as  with  Dr.  Stearns  on  the  same  subject. 
At  their  annual  meeting  in  July,  1864,  the  trustees 
gratefully  accepted  the  foundation  and  appointed  the 
president  and  Dr.  Vaill  a  committee  to  confer  with 
the  donor,  and  prepare  proper  statutes  and  plans  for 
the  pastorate.  At  a  special  meeting  of  the  board  in 
November,  1866,  the  statutes,  as  approved  by  the 
donor,  were  reported  and  adopted  by  the  trustees. 
They  provide  that  the  professor  shall  be  designated 
as  the  "  Samuel  Green  Professor  of  Biblical  History 
and  Interpretation  and  of  the  Pastoral  Care,"  and 
that  he  shall  be  the  pastor  or  associate  pastor  of  the 
college  church.  His  duties  shall  be  to  preach  on 
the  Sabbath  such  portion  of  the  time  as  the  trustees 
may  think  most  conducive  to  the  well-being  of  the 
college;  to  be  responsible  in  connection  with  and 
under  the  direction  of  the  president  for  the  proper 
conducting  of  all  other  religious  meetings  in  the  col- 
lege, provided,  however,  that  in  the  management  of 
this  work  as  well  as  in  the  preaching  on  the  Sabbath, 
such  assistance  may  be  expected  from  other  profes- 
sors as  shall  help  to  secure  the  wisest  and  most  pow- 
erful Christian  influence  upon  the  whole  institution ; 
to  organize  and  conduct,  or  superintend  the  conduct- 
ing of,  Bible  classes;  to  seek  out  young  men  as  they 
come  to  college,  and  exert  a  personal  religious  influ- 
ence of  Christian  friendship  upon  them ;  and  to  give 


A   HISTORY    OF   AMHERST    COLLEGE.  l6/ 

such  instruction  in  Biblical  history  and  interpreta- 
tion as  the  trustees  may  direct. 

During  his  life,  the  founder  of  this  professorship 
was  not  willing  to  have  his  name  mentioned.  But 
since  his  decease  there  is  no  objection  to  the  an- 
nouncement that  the  founder  was  that  life-long 
friend  of  Amherst  College  and  of  every  good  cause, 
John  Tappan,  Esq.,  of  Boston.  And  he  named 
the  foundation  the  Samuel  Green  Professorship 
in  memory  of  his  beloved  pastor,  the  first  pastor 
of  the  Union  Church,  Essex  Street,  Boston, 
and  afterwards  one  of  the  honored  secretaries 
of  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for 
Foreign  Missions. 

While  jiew  departments  of  instruction  were  thus 
springing  up  in  the  college,  the  old  departments 
were  not  stationary.  All  the  branches  of  the  physi- 
cal sciences  were  not  only  supported  now  on  the 
Walker  foundations,  but  derived  fresh  life  and 
strength  from  the  new  and  rich  soil  into  which  they 
were  transplanted. 

In  1869,  the  trustees  voted  that  Professor  Snell 
have  liberty  to  draw  on  the  Walker  Legacy  Fund  for 
an  amount  not  exceeding  three  thousand  dollars,  to 
be  expended  within  two  years  for  the  purchase  of 
apparatus.  Thus  after  many  long  years  of  hope 
deferred  and  personal  toil  and  skill  to  make  appar- 
atus out  of  nothing,  and  with  no  place  to  put  it  in 
when  it  was  made,  he  enjoyed  the  satisfaction,  not 
only  of  having  a  beautiful  and  convenient  room  with 
suitable  shelves  and  cases  for  the  deposit  of  the  old 
apparatus, -but  also  of  seeing  new  and  choice  instru- 
ments, works  of  art  as  well  as  illustrations  of  sci- 

12 


168          A    HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

ence,  frequently  arriving  wherewith  to  exhibit  his 
new  and  beautiful  experiments. 

The  department  of  chemistry,  like  the  department 
of  mathematics  and  physics,  migrated  during  the 
presidency  of  Dr.  Stearns,  leaving  the  basement  of 
the  old  Chapel,  which  in  1827  seemed  so  ample  and 
magnificent  and  was  in  fact  in  advance  of  the  labor- 
atories in  other  and  older  colleges,  and  finding  new 
quarters  on  the  first  floor  of  Williston  Hall,  fitted 
and  furnished  by  the  wealth  and  liberality  of  Mr. 
Williston,  to  satisfy  the  demands  of  Professor  Clark, 
young,  ambitious,  and  fresh  from  the  laboratories  of 
Europe.  Provided  with  an  excellent  working  as 
well  as  lecturing  laboratory,  conducted  by  scientific 
and  enthusiastic  professors,  with  the  cooperation 
sometimes  of  able  assistants  and  the  constant  sym- 
pathy of  an  appreciating  and  progressive  president, 
this  department  expanded  with  its  accommodations 
and  appliances,  was  allowed  more  time  and  oppor- 
tunity under  the  presidency  of  Dr.  Stearns  than  was 
afforded  it  even  under  his  scientific  predecessor, 
gave  increasing  attention  to  analytic  and  organic 
chemistry  and  work  in  the  laboratory,  and,  in  short, 
endeavored  not  without  success  to  keep  pace  with 
the  rapid  progress  of  chemistry  and  the  kindred  sci- 
ences. From  1854  to  1856  Professor  Clark  was 
aided  in  analytic  and  applied  chemistry  by  the  rare 
talents,  taste,  and  science  of  Dr.  John  W.  Mallet,  a 
graduate  of  Trinity  College,  Dublin,  and  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Gottingen.  Dr.  Newton  S.  Manross, 
another  of  Mr.  Clark's  fellow-students  in  Professor 
Wohler's  laboratory  at  Gottingen  and  a  doctor  of 
philosophy  of  that  university,  gave  excellent  instruc- 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  169 

tion  here  in  this  and  the  related  sciences  in  1861-62, 
the  first  year  in  which  Professor  Clark  was  absent  as 
an  officer  in  the  War  of  the  Rebellion,  and,  following 
his  beloved  professor  to  the  war,  lost  his  life  in  the 
battle  at  Antietam.  In  1867  Professor  Clark  re- 
signed his  professorship  in  order  to  accept  the  presi- 
dency of  the  Massachusetts  Agricultural  College, 
and  after  a  year's  interregnum,  in  which  Mr.  J.  H. 
Eaton,  of  the  class  of  '65,  lectured  with  marked  suc- 
cess, in  1868  Prof.  E.  P.  Harris  of  the  class  of 
'55,  then  professor  at  Beloit  College,  was  appointed 
in  his  place.  In  1869,  this  department,  at  the  same 
time  with  that  of  physics,  struck  its  roots  into  the 
Walker  Legacy  Fund,  and  Professor  Harris  was 
authorized,  with  the  advice  and  approbation  of  the 
prudential  committee,  to  expend  a  sum  not  exceed- 
ing fifteen  hundred  dollars  in  refitting  and  refur- 
nishing the  laboratory.  And  thereafter  not  only 
whole  classes  were  faithfully  instructed  in  the  gen- 
eral principles  of  the  science  by  his  able  lectures, 
but  under  his  inspiring  guidance  the  laboratory 
proper  has  been  filled  to  its  utmost  capacity  with 
enthusiastic  elective  students  engaged  in  analytic 
experiments. 

Botany  has  continued  to  be  taught,  as  in  former 
years,  by  the  professor  of  chemistry.  Indeed  Pro- 
fessor Clark  bore  the  title  of  "  Professor  of  Chemis- 
try, Botany,  and  Zoology"  from  1854  till  1858.  In 
1858,  Professor  Tuckerman  was  appointed  professor 
of  botany.  Only  a  few  classes,  however,  enjoyed  his 
instructions  in  this  science,  in  consequence  of  an  in- 
creasing difficulty  of  hearing,  which  rendered  it  in- 
convenient and  disagreeable  for  him  to  teach  classes. 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

For  the  same  reason,  however,  he  only  devoted  him- 
self with  less  interruption  and  more  enthusiasm  to 
one  branch  of  botanical  science,  viz.,  the  lichens,  in 
which  he  long  reigned  almost  sole  monarch  among 
American  savants  and  published  to  the  world  the 
results  of  his  long  and  patient  microscopic  studies  of 
specimens  which  he  gathered  in  person  or  by  proxy 
from  all  the  mountains  and  glens  of  the  western  con- 
tinent. "Tuckerman  Glen"  in  the  White  Mountains 
was  discovered  by  him  in  these  explorations,  and 
will  be  a  lasting  monument  of  his  devotion  to  this 
science. 

On  retiring  from  the  presidency,  Dr.  Hitchcock 
expressed  to  the  trustees  his  willingness  to  retain 
the  professorship  of  natural  theology  and  geology, 
giving  at  least  twenty  lectures,  and  from  twenty-five 
to  thirty  recitations  in  geology ;  twenty-five  lectures 
and  ten  or  twelve  recitations  in  anatomy  and  physi- 
ology; twenty-five  recitations  in  Butler's  Analogy; 
and  from  ten  to  twenty  lectures  in  natural  theology ; 
being  released  from  the  government  and  police  of 
the  college  and  from  attending  faculty  meetings; 
preaching  and  officiating  at  prayers  in  his  turn  with 
the  other  professors;  and  receiving  as  his  salary  six 
hundred  dollars — one-half  the  sum  received  by  the 
other  professors.  This  proposition  was  thankfully 
accepted  by  the  trustees,  and  Professor  Hitchcock 
returned  with  the  freshness  of  a  first  love  to  his 
lectures  and  recitations,  to  geological  excursions,  ex- 
plorations, and  naming  of  mountains,  to  the  collec- 
tion and  classification  of  specimens  and  the  devel- 
opment and  perfection  especially  of  his  favorite 
branches,  ichnology  and  natural  theology.  It  was 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  i;i 

with  enthusiastic  delight  that  he  saw  the  Appleton 
Cabinet  completed,  and  the  first  floor  filled  with 
classified  and  labeled  foot-marks  in  which  the  eye 
of  his  science  and  imagination  could  see  the  gigantic 
birds,  saurians,  and  batrachians  of  the  primeval 
world  marching  down  the  geologic  ages,  and  the 
second  floor  filling  with  shells  of  mollusks,  casts  of 
the  megatherium,  skeletons  and  skins  of  the  gorilla 
and  other  animals,  and  stuffed  or  preserved  speci- 
mens of  the  animal  creation  in  regular  gradation 
from  the  lowest  to  the  highest  orders  of  the  animal 
kingdom.  In  1858,  Mr.  Charles  H.  Hitchcock,  of 
the  class  of  '56,  was  appointed  lecturer  on  zoology 
and  curator  of  the  cabinet.  In  1860,  as  Dr.  Hitch- 
cock's health  declined,  an  addition  was  made  to  his 
salary  that  he  might  employ  such  assistance  as  he 
might  think  needful  and  expedient,  and  from  that 
time,  his  son  relieved  him  by  performing  more  and 
more  of  his  duties  until  his  death  in  1864.  In  1870 
Mr.  Benjamin  K.  Emerson,  a  graduate  of  the  class 
of  '65  and  a  doctor  of  philosophy  of  the  University 
of  Gottingen,  was  appointed  instructor  in  geology, 
and  at  a  meeting  of  the  trustees  in  Boston,  Febru- 
ary 7,  1872,  the  title  of  the  Hitchcock  Professorship 
was  changed  from  that  of  Geology  and  Natural  The- 
ology to  that  of  Geology  and  Zoology;  and  Benja- 
min K.  Emerson  was  elected  to  the  professorship. 
Meanwhile  natural  theology  was  provided  for  by 
ample  instructions  from  the  president  and  the  pro- 
fessor of  mental  and  moral  philosoph)r,  as  well  as  by 
the  able  and  popular  lectures  of  Dr.  Burr  on  this 
special  subject. 

Mathematics  and  the  ancient  languages  have  both 


A    HISTORY   OF   AMHERST    COLLEGE. 

been  compelled  to  yield,  these  last  few  years,  to  the 
demands  of  the  age  and  give  tip  some  of  the  time 
which  they  formerly  occupied  to  the  physical  sci- 
ences and  the  modern  languages.  Yet  there  never 
has  been  a  time  when  the  major  part  of  each  succes- 
sive class  has  been  more  enthusiastic  and  successful 
as  students  of  the  classics,  nor  when  we  have  been 
able  to  make  a  few  so  good  classical  scholars.  While 
insisting  as  strenuously  as  ever  on  a  thorough  drill 
and  mastery  of  the  grammar  and  lexicography  of  the 
languages  by  the  freshmen,  we  have  been  able,  with 
the  admirable  helps  that  now  exist,  to  study  both 
ancient  and  modern  languages  more  in  the  light  of 
comparative  philology,  and  at  the  same  time  to  read 
the  classics  more  in  their  relations  to  history  and 
philosophy  and  as  a  means  of  higher  culture  in  what 
are  justly  called  "the  humanities/' 

Two  changes  have  been  introduced  which  affect 
especially  this  department,  and  which,  without  ques- 
tion, have  been  both  marks  and  means  of  progress. 
They  were  introduced  by  the  Greek  professor.  The 
one  is  the  introduction  into  the  recitation  rooms,  not 
only  of  maps  and  charts,  but  of  photographs,  engrav- 
ings, casts,  models  of  ancient  edifices,  copies  of  an- 
cient statuary  in  marble,  bronze,  and  terra  cotta, 
busts  of  authors  and  the  great  men  of  antiquity — in 
short,  all  such  sensible  illustrations  as  will  lend  to 
classical  studies  something  of  the  reality  and  vivid- 
ness which  specimens  and  experiments  give  to  the 
physical  sciences,  and  will  help  students  to  repro- 
duce men  and  things  as  they  were  in  olden  times. 
The  other  sign  and  means  of  progress  is  a  higher 
grade  of  instruction  in  the  lower  classes  secured  by 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  173 

more  permanence  and  more  division  of  labor  among 
the  instructors  of  those  classes.  Formerly  in  this  as 
in  other  colleges,  the  two  lower  classes  were  taught 
almost  entirely  by  tutors.  For  many  years  now  the 
instruction  in  Greek  and  Latin  has  all  been  given  by 
professors. 

Subject  to  change  as  other  departments,  the  de- 
partment of  rhetoric  had  three  different  incumbents 
during  the  presidency  of  Dr.  Stearns.  Rev.  Thomas 
P.  Field,  of  the  class  of  '34,  was  chosen  professor  in 
this  department  at  a  special  meeting  of  the  trustees 
held  in  Amherst,  November  21,  1853,  just  a  year  pre- 
vious to  the  ordination  and  inauguration  of  Presi- 
dent Stearns,  and  in  the  spring  of  1856  he  resigned 
the  professorship,  having  held  it  only  a  little  over 
two  years.  His  rare  good  sense  and  genial  spirit, 
his  refinement  of  taste  and  manners,  his  extensive 
and  thorough  acquaintance  with  English  literature 
and  his  high  and  just  appreciation  of  the  old  English 
classics,  qualified  him  well  for  a  professorship  in  col- 
lege, and  especially  for  the  professorship  of  rhetoric 
and  English  literature. 

Mr.  James  G.  Vose,  a  graduate  of  Yale  of  the 
class  of  '51,  was  chosen  professor  in  this  department 
at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  trustees  in  August, 
1856,  and  his  resignation  was  accepted  by  the  board 
at  a  special  meeting  in  Boston  in  March,  1865. 
With  many  of  the  same  qualifications  for  the  office 
as  his  predecessor,  and  continuing  to  hold  it  between 
eight  and  nine  years — longer  than  any  who  had  pre- 
ceded him  except  Professor  Worcester  and  Professor 
Warner — Professor  Vose  grew  every  year  in  the  re- 
spect and  affection  of  the  students,  endeared  himself 


174         A   HISTORY    OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

greatly  to  his  colleagues  in  the  faculty,  and  was  im- 
pressing himself  more  and  more  on  the  style  of 
thinking  and  writing  in  the  college.  No  one  can 
look  carefully  and  discriminately  over  the  schedules 
of  Commencements  and  exhibitions  without  seeing 
his  influence  in  the  choice  of  subjects  and  the  ex- 
pression of  the  titles  of  the  pieces  while  he  occupied 
this  important  chair.  Ordained  as  an  evangelist  not 
long  after  he  became  professor,1  by  a  council  con- 
vened by  invitation  of  the  college  church,  he 
preached  with  increasing  frequency  and  interest  in 
other  churches,  and  feeling  more  and  more  the  infe- 
licities of  college  life  and  the  attractions  of  the  min- 
istry and  the  pastoral  office,  he  yielded  at  length  to 
this  growing  preference,  and  the  college  lost  a  good 
professor,  but  Providence  and  Rhode  Island  gained 
perhaps  a  better  bishop  whose  wisdom  and  spirit  and 
influence  in  the  churches  prove  him  to  be  in  the  true 
apostolical  succession. 

At  the  same  special  meeting  in  Boston,  March  8, 
1865,  at  which  they  accepted  the  resignation  of  Pro- 
fessor Vose,  the  trustees  "  made  unanimous  choice  of 
Rev.  L.  Clark  Seelye  as  Williston  Professor  of 
Rhetoric,"  whereby  Springfield  lost  a  Congrega- 
tional bishop  greatly  honored  and  beloved,  but  the 
college  gained  a  professor  of  rhetoric  and  oratory  and 
English  literature  who,  although  he  came  with  the 
avowed  expectation  of  staying  only  a  few  years  and 
then  resuming  the  ministry,  proved  himself  more 
and  more  the  right  man  in  the  right  place,  until  in 
1873,  he  accepted  a  place  for  which  he  was  perhaps 

1  He  was  ordained  in  1857.  He  had  previously  preached 
only  as  a  licentiate. 


A    HISTORY    OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  1 75 

still  better  adapted,  the  presidency  of  Smith  College 
in  Northampton. 

With  the  trifling  exception  of  a  choice  between 
French  and  German  in  the  third  term  of  sophomore 
year,  there  were  no  optional  studies  prior  to  the 
presidency  of  Dr.  Stearns.  In  1859-60,  "annuals" 
having  now  taken  the  place  of  the  "  senior  examin- 
ation" on  the  whole  course,  "  elective  studies  in  the 
several  departments"  took  the  place  of  reviews  pre- 
paratory to  that  examination  in  the  third  term  of 
senior  year.  Since  that  time  they  have  been  intro- 
duced gradually  into  the  studies  of  the  junior  year. 
They  are  still  confined  for  the  most  part  to  the  last 
two  years  of  the  course.  There  is  no  disposition  in 
any  of  the  present  faculty  to  make  the  college  an 
American  university  (sit  venia  verbo!)  or  to  sacrifice 
any  of  the  humanities  or  the  disciplinary  studies 
which  constitute  the  essential  characteristics  of  the 
American  college. 

Conservative  and  at  the  same  time  progressive  in 
his  ideas  of  the  college  curriculum,  President  Stearns 
presided  in  the  Board  of  Trustees  and  the  faculty 
and  administered  the  government  of  the  institution 
with  the  same  even  balance,  uniting  dignity  with 
unfailing  courtesy  and  kindness,  tempering  justice 
and  firmness  with  gentleness  and  parental  love,  calm 
however  stormy  the  elements  might  be  around  him, 
yet  alive  to  every  breath  of  feeling,  impulse,  or  as- 
piration in  young  men,  ruling  in  the  hearts  of  all 
connected  with  the  college,  and  guiding  its  affairs 
with  a  wisdom  that  seldom  erred,  and  a  patience  and 
faith  that  never  failed. 

As  "Professor  of  Moral  and  Christian  Science," 


176          A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

President  Stearns,  during  the  greater  part  of  his 
presidency,  taught  the  senior  class  Butler's  Anal- 
ogy, and  lectured  on  the  Hebrew  theocracy  and  its 
records,  with  particular  reference  to  the  arguments 
and  objections  of  modern  skeptics.  Having  become 
professor  also  of  Biblical  history  and  interpretation, 
he  adopted  a  more  modern  text-book,  and  by  way  of 
supplementing  its  defects  and  imperfections,  ex- 
tended the  range  of  his  oral  and  written  lectures. 
For  a  few  years,  he  also  instructed  the  seniors  in 
constitutional  law.  With  this  exception,  his  teach- 
ing was  confined  to  a  single  term — the  second  term 
of  the  senior  year.  This  is  less  instruction  than  was 
given  by  any  of  his  predecessors — very  much  less 
than  used  to  be  given  by  President  Moore  and  Presi- 
dent Humphrey,  or  any  of  the  earlier  presidents  of 
New  England  colleges.  But  we  have  only  to  look 
at  the  other  work  which  he  did  in  raising  funds  and 
erecting  buildings,  in  administering  the  discipline, 
and  looking  after  the  necessities  of  poor  students, 
in  the  pastoral  care  and  the  representation  of  the 
college  before  the  public — in  all  the  countless  and 
endless  details  of  business  that  now  devolve  on  the 
president  of  any  great  and  growing  college — and  we 
see  not  only  a  justification  of  this  undesirable  fact, 
but  a  necessity  for  it.  And  in  the  success  and  per- 
fection, with  which  all  this  work  was  done ;  in  the 
rare  felicity,  free  from  outbreaks  and  almost  from 
friction,  with  which  the  internal  government  and 
discipline  (never  before  so  fully  conducted  by  the 
president  and  never  before  conducted  so  well)  was 
administered ;  in  the  steadily  increasing  number  of 
students  (since  the  war)  till  it  had  reached  at  the 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  177 

semi-centennial  a  larger  aggregate  than  at  any  for- 
mer period ;  and  in  the  general  growth,  prosperity, 
and  reputation  of  the  institution — in  all  these  we 
see  a  proof  of  the  wisdom  and  excellence  of  the  ad- 
ministration. 

On  Thursday,  June  8,  1876,  Dr.  Stearns  died,  still 
in  office  (the  only  president  of  Amherst  College  that 
has  died  in  office  except  the  first),  having  held  the 
office  a  greater  number  of  years  than  any  other  ex- 
cept the  second,  who  was  president  about  the  same 
length  of  time. 1  The  closing  scenes  of  his  life  are 
narrated  in  the  following  extracts  from  the  com- 
memorative discourse  by  the  author  of  this  history. 
The  last  year  was  doubtless  the  most  fruitful  year 
of  his  long  and  useful  life.  The  last  spring  term 
saw  his  prayers  answered  and  his  labors  blessed  in 
what  he  considered,  and  we  also  felt,  to  be  the  great- 
est and  best  of  all  the  revivals  that  had  crowned  his 
college  work,  if  not  the  greatest  and  best  in  the  whole 
history  of  the  college.  The  last  Sunday  that  he 
officiated  and  at  the  last  sacrament  which  he  admin- 
istered, he  received  to  the  communion  the  largest 
number  of  young  men  that  he  had  ever  admitted  at 
one  time  to  the  college  church,  the  richest  harvest 
of  new-born  souls  that  he  had  gathered  into  the 
garner  of  the  Lord.  The  last  time  that  he  met  the 
students  was  at  morning  prayers  where  he  had  so 
often  interceded  for  them  with  their  Heavenly 
Father,  like  Abraham,  the  friend  of  God,  like  Is- 
rael, the  prince  of  God,  and  in  much  of  the  spirit  as 

1  Dr.  Moore  was  president  a  little  over  two  years  ;  Dr.  Hum- 
phrey, twenty-two;  Dr. Hitchcock,  nine;  Dr.  Stearns,  twenty- 
two;  Dr.  Seelye,  fourteen. 


1 78          A   HISTORY    OF   AMHERST    COLLEGE. 

well  as  in  the  name  and  for  the  sake  of  the  Son  of 
God  Himself.  This  time,  however,  as  he  rose  to 
offer  prayer  he  grew  faint  and  fell  into  the  arms  of 
his  colleagues,  but  soon  recovering,  he  walked  to 
his  home,  supported  on  either  side  by  some  of  the 
students.  His  family  felt  no  immediate  alarm. 
His  friends  who  called  in  the  course  of  the  day  saw 
no  signs  of  speedy  death.  He  kept  about  the  house 
through  the  day,  suffering  some  pretty  sharp  pains 
at  times  in  his  back  and  shoulders,  but  talking  with 
his  usual  cheerfulness  and  playfulness,  listening  to 
the  reading  of  a  book,  reading  himself  in  the  news- 
paper, and  apparently  apprehending  no  immediate 
danger.  He  was  walking  about  the  room  five  min- 
utes before  his  death ;  he  had  just  taken  up  a  news- 
paper when  suddenly  he  laid  it  down,  remarking  that 
he  felt  a  strange  sinking,  dropped  upon  the  sofa, 
and  before  the  family  could  gather  about  him,  he 
was  gone.  He  had  lived  so  near  the  heavenly  gates 
it  is  no  wonder  that  at  a  single  step  he  entered  and 
was  with  the  shining  ones.  It  was  an  ideal  death  to 
crown  an  almost  ideal  life.  All  who  knew  him 
could  but  exclaim,  "Let  me  die  the  death  of  the 
righteous,  and  let  my  last  end  be  like  his."  He 
himself  had  often  expressed  a  wish,  if  agreeable  to 
the  will  of  God,  thus  to  die.  It  was  not  a  death,  it 
was  only  a  departure  from  the  line  of  battle  to  the 
trophy,  from  the  contest  to  the  crown.  Nay,  call 
it  rather  a  translation.  He  walked  with  God  and 
was  not,  for  God  took  him.  Nothing  else  was 
wanted  to  round  out  to  the  full  so  beautiful,  useful, 
honored,  and  happy  a  life.  True,  he  had  other 
thoughts  and  plans.  He  had  written  his  resignation 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  179 

of  the  presidency — it  was  to  be  contemporaneous 
with  the  graduation  of  his  youngest  son — and  he  was 
to  retain  for  the  present  the  pastorate  and  the  Sam- 
uel Green  professorship  of  Biblical  interpretation. 
But  he  had  lived  more  than  his  three-score  years 
and  ten  and  filled  them  full  with  sound  and  heroic 
service,  and  the  Master  gave  him  a  full  and  free  dis- 
charge, bidding  him  rest  from  his  labors  and  enter 
at  once  upon  his  honors  and  rewards,  saying  with 
almost  audible  voice: 

"Servant  of  God,  well  done  ! 

Rest  from  thy  loved  employ  ; 
The  battle  fought,  the  victory  won, 
Enter  thy  Master's  joy." 

On  Tuesday  of  the  next  week  the  funeral  service 
was  held  in  the  College  Church.  Only  one  week 
from  the  next  Sabbath  was  the  beginning  of  Com- 
mencement week.  With  characteristic  promptness 
— and  yet  may  we  not  believe  by  a  special  provi- 
dence?— he  had  finished  the  preparation  of  his  bacca- 
laureate sermon  on  his  birthday,  the  lyth  of  March, 
and  presented  it  to  Mrs.  Stearns  as  a  surprise  gift 
and  birthday  present.  At  the  request  of  the  faculty 
and  family  this  was  read  by  President  Seelye  of 
Smith  College.  The  text  was  in  Deut.  xxviii.  i, 
15.  It  was  a  centennial  discourse  (1876)  and  a 
strong  appeal  addressed  to  the  reason,  the  con- 
sciences, and  the  hearts  of  the  young  men,  espe- 
cially the  graduating  class,  and  urging  them  with 
more  than  usual  fervor  and  power  to  the  faithful 
discharge  of  their  civil,  social,  and  political,  as  well 
as  religious,  duties.  Eloquent  and  impressive  in 
itself,  under  these  circumstances  it  was  a  voice  from 


180          A    HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

the  grave  and  the  spirit  world,  nay,  a  voice  from 
heaven  and  God,  which  those  who  heard  it,  and  es- 
pecially the  members  of  the  graduating  class,  will 
never  forget.  The  Sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper 
in  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day,  when  the  graduat- 
ing class  commune  with  their  pastor,  with  each 
other,  and  with  their  Christian  brothers  for  the  last 
time,  was  a  season  of  rare  sacredness  and  solemnity 
and  made  still  more  interesting  by  the  admission  to 
the  church  of  converts  of  the  recent  revival.  Com- 
mencement week  seemed  more  like  a  prolonged  fu- 
neral than  like  the  usual  festival.  The  president's 
chair  stood  vacant  and  wreathed  in  mourning;  a 
dirge  introduced  the  exercises,  and  oh,  how  we 
missed  his  voice  in  the  opening  and  closing  prayers, 
his  presence  in  all  the  exercises!  The  richest 
legacy  which  he  has  left  to  his  family,  the  college, 
and  the  community,  is  his  character  and  life — a  char- 
acter which  was  confessed  by  all  who  knew  him  to 
be  a  more  convincing  argument  for  Christianity  than 
whole  volumes  of  "  evidences,"  a  life  which  was  felt 
by  all  who  saw  it  to  be  more  winning  and  persua- 
sive than  the  most  eloquent  sermon,  and  a  mem- 
ory at  once  more  precious  and  more  imperishable 
than  foundations  or  buildings  of  marble  and  granite. 
Amherst  College  will  be  rich  and  sure  to  accomplish 
its  mission  so  long  as  men  like  President  Stearns 
and  Professor  Snell  continue  to  be  its  presidents  and 
professors,  and  so  long  as  trustees,  faculty,  and  stu- 
dents cherish  their  memory  and  feel,  as  they  cannot 
but  feel,  their  hallowed  influence. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE  CIVIL  WAR — RECORD  OF  AMHERST'S  HEROES — THE 
COMMEMORATIVE  CHIME  OF  BELLS — THE  SEMI-CEN- 
TENNIAL CELEBRATION. 

Two  events  of  peculiar  interest  and  importance, 
for  which  we  have  found  no  place  in  the  foregoing 
pages,  belong  to  the  history  of  President  Stearns 's 
administration,  namely,  the  Civil  War  and  the  Semi- 
centennial Celebration.  To  these  we  must  now  de- 
vote a  short  chapter  before  proceeding  to  the  subse- 
quent history. 

No  class  of  men,  as  statistics  prove,  contributed  to 
the  grand  army  which  saved  the  Union  and  the  na- 
tion in  the  Civil  War  in  so  large  proportion  to  their 
numbers,  and  none  contributed  an  element  of  such 
military  value  and  moral  power,  as  the  graduates 
and  under-graduates  of  our  colleges.  Several  of 
the  colleges  in  the  Middle  and  Western  States  were 
closed  for  a  longer  or  shorter  period  during  the  war; 
and  the  Eastern  colleges  felt  scarcely  less  the  deple- 
tion of  their  numbers  and  the  diminution  of  their 
strength.  It  is  sufficient  honor  for  Amherst  not  to 
have  fallen  behind  her  sisters  in  devotion  to  the 
cause — it  is  her  pride  and  glory  to  have  borne  her 
full  share  in  the  burdens  and  sacrifices,  if  not  in  the 
honors  and  rewards,  of  this  patriotic  and  heroic  ser- 
vice. 

181 


1 82          A   HISTORY   OF    AMHERST    COLLEGE. 

At  the  first  outbreak  of  hostilities,  before  the  war 
had  actually  commenced,  with  the  ardor  characteris- 
tic of  youth  and  college  life,  the  under-graduates  of 
Amherst  volunteered  their  services  and  offered  a 
company  to  the  governor.  On  that  dark  and  porten- 
tous Sunday  in  April,  1861,  which  followed  the  fall 
of  Fort  Sumter,  and  the  attack  of  the  mob  upon  the 
Massachusetts  regiments  passing  through  Baltimore 
on  their  way  to  Washington,  when  other  troops  from 
Massachusetts  and  New  York,  forbidden  to  pass  by 
that  thoroughfare,  were  making  their  way  slowly  by 
way  of  Annapolis,  and  when  it  was  feared  that  the 
rebels  might  already  have  seized  upon  the  capital, 
the  writer  of  this  history  preached  in  the  College 
Chapel  on  themes  suited  to  the  circumstances,  and 
in  a  strain  intended  to  inspire  courage,  heroism,  and 
self-sacrificing  devotion.  And  while  the  professor 
was  preaching,  or  at  least  as  soon  as  he  had  done, 
the  students  were  already  practising  what  he 
preached.  They  drew  up  a  form  of  enlistment  which 
some  fifty  or  sixty  of  them  subscribed,  and  in  which 
they  offered  themselves  to  the  military  service  of  the 
country  in  this  emergency,  deeming  it  a  Christian 
duty  not  unbecoming  the  Lord's  day  to  enlist  in 
such  a  war,  and  adopting  as  their  own  the  sentiment 
which  they  so  much  admired  in  their  ancient  clas- 
sics: Duke  et  decorum  est  pro  f  atria  mori.  The  presi- 
dent's son  was  the  first  to  put  his  name  to  this  paper; 
a  son  of  one  of  the  professors  was  the  next  to  enter 
the  lists.  The  governor  declined  to  accept  the  prof- 
fered service,  at  the  same  time  intimating  that  the 
day  might  come  when  duty  would  call  them  to  the 
sacrifice.  The  immediate  peril  soon  passed  by,  and 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  183 

a  general  military  drill  tinder  a  competent  military 
officer '  took  the  place  of  the  proposed  company  of 
volunteers.  But  both  the  young  men  specially 
alluded  to  above  afterwards  enlisted,  and  one  of 
them  was  among  the  earliest  sacrifices  which  our 
college  offered  on  the  altar  of  the  country.  Many 
of  the  other  volunteers,  I  know  not  just  how  many, 
found  their  way  into  the  army,  some  before  and 
some  after  their  graduation.  Seventy-eight  names 
are  recorded  on  the  roll  of  under-graduates  who 
served  in  the  army  or  navy  of  the  United  States  in 
the  course  of  the  war.  Our  classes,  which  had  been 
steadily  increasing  in  numbers  for  several  years, 
were  now  so  reduced  that  some  of  them  seemed  al- 
most like  the  thinned  ranks  of  an  army  after  a  battle. 
One  of  the  professors  set  the  example  of  volunteering 
early  in  the  war,  and  it  was  followed  by  one  other 
officer  of  the  college  and  by  many  of  the  students. 
Prof.  William  S.  Clark,  commissioned  as  major  of 
the  Twenty-first  Regiment  of  Massachusetts  Volun- 
teers, August  21,  1 86 1,  and  promoted  rapidly  to  the 
rank  of  lieutenant-colonel  and  colonel,  fought  in  most 
of  the  principal  battles  of  the  first  two  years  of  the 
war  till  his  regiment  was  reduced  to  the  merest  skele- 
ton. His  friend,  Dr.  N.  S.  Manross,  who  for  one 
year  filled  the  vacancy  in  the  faculty  occasioned  by 
his  absence,  at  the  end  of  the  year  followed  him  to  the 
war,  and  at  the  very  opening  of  his  first  battle,  the 
battle  of  Antietam,  he  fell  as  he  was  leading  on  his 
company  to  the  conflict.  Thus  two  of  the  officers  of 
college  went  directly  from  the  chair  of  the  professor 

'Col.  Luke  Lyman,  of    Northampton,   afterwards  colonel 
of  the  Twenty-seventh  Regiment. 

Of  THE 


1 84         A    HISTORY   OF  AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

to  the  tent  and  the  field  of  battle.  Two  other  mem- 
bers of  the  faculty  were  represented  in  the  army  by 
sons  who  were  also  sons  of  the  college.  Three  sons 
of  the  lamented  Professor  Adams  enlisted,  two  of 
whom  early  lost  their  lives  in  the  service.  Add  to 
these  connecting  links  the  almost  four-score  students 
who  left  their  classes,  most  of  them  for  the  purpose 
of  entering  the  army,  and  many  more  who  engaged 
in  the  service  immediately  after  their  graduation, 
and  it  will  be  readily  seen  how  many  bonds  of  sym- 
pathy and  interest  were  thus  established  between  the 
college  and  the  camps  and  battle-fields  during  the 
war.  Every  mail  was  expected  with  anxious  inter- 
est. The  newspapers  were  watched,  especially  after 
every  battle,  and  the  lists  of  the  killed  and  wounded 
were  examined  with  trembling  solicitude.  In  some 
instances  false  alarms  were  thus  communicated,  occa- 
sioning much  distress  or  anxiety  at  the  time,  but 
followed  by  speedy  relief,  and  attended  perhaps  with 
not  a  little  amusement.  Colonel  Clark  was  reported 
first  as  captured  and  then  as  killed  in  the  battle  of 
Chantilly.  A  telegraphic  dispatch  was  even  sent  to 
the  army  giving  directions  for  sending  on  his  body. 
But  the  colonel  soon  answered  it  himself,  saying  that 
he  still  had  need  of  it  for  his  own  use,  and  a  few 
days  later  he  presented  himself  in  person  at  the  door 
of  one  of  the  professors  with  whom  Mrs.  Clark  was 
passing  a  few  days,  and  ringing  the  bell,  inquired  if 
the  Widow  Clark  was  there ! l 

1  Colonel  Clark  denied  having  returned  this  answer,  I  be- 
lieve. But  he  would  have  been  very  likely  to  return  such  an 
answer ;  if  not  true  to  the  letter,  it  bears  internal  evidence  of 
'verisimilitude. 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST    COLLEGE.  185 

Sometimes  the  sad  intelligence,  conveyed  by 
newspaper,  letter,  or  telegraph — conveyed  perhaps 
through  the  medium  of  a  friend  and  broken  as  kindly 
and  tenderly  as  possible  to  the  afflicted  individual  or 
the  bereaved  family — was  too  soon  confirmed  by  the 
arrival  of  the  lifeless  body.  Then  followed  the 
funeral  service,  the  great  congregation  in  the  chapel 
or  the  church,  the  prayers  and  dirges,  the  address  or 
commemorative  discourse,  and  the  long  procession 
of  students  and  citizens,  mourners  all,  to  the  place 
of  burial.  Amherst  was  witness  to  not  a  few  such 
scenes  in  the  course  of  the  war. 

The  "  Roll  of  the  Graduates  and  Under-Graduates 
of  Amherst  College  who  served  in  the  Army  or  Navy 
of  the  United  States  during  the  War  of  the  Rebel- 
lion," printed  in  1871,  records  the  names  and  in  brief 
the  services  of  two  hundred  and  forty-seven  men,  of 
whom  seventy-eight  were  under-graduates  and  one 
hundred  and  sixty-nine  were  graduates.  When  the 
semi-centennial  catalogue  was  issued  in  1872,  the 
number  of  graduates,  then  more  fully  ascertained, 
had  grown  to  one  hundred  and  ninety-five.  Among 
these  were  six  former  tutors  of  the  college.  Two  of 
these  sacrificed  their  lives  in  the  service.1  Of  the 
two  hundred  and  forty-seven  names  on  the  roll, 
ninety-five,  or  nearly  thirty-nine  per  cent  of  the 
whole,  enlisted  as  privates.  Some  of  them  were  im- 
mediately elected  to  some  office  and  received  com- 
missions. The  greater  part  of  the  others  were  pro- 

1  Dr.  Charles  Ellery  Washburn  of  the  class  of  '38,  tutor  in 
1841  and  1842 ;  and  Rev.  Samuel  Fisk  of  the  class  of  '48,  tutor 
from  1852  to  1855,  author  of  "Dunn  Brown  Abroad,"  and 
"  Dunn  Brown  in  the  Army. " 


1 86          A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

moted  to  one  grade  or  another,  and  generally  to 
successive  grades,  as  the  reward  of  meritorious  con- 
duct or  faithful  service.  Amherst  furnished  in  all 
thirty-five  chaplains,  some  of  whom  were  pastors  of 
some  of  the  largest  and  best  churches  in  the  city  or 
the  country,  and  not  a  few  sacrificed  their  health  and 
periled  their  lives  in  the  service. 

The  college  furnished  thirty  or  more  surgeons  to 
the  war. 

Passing  from  chaplains  and  surgeons  to  other 
officers,  we  find  on  inspecting  the  roll  and  noting 
their  rank  at  the  close  of  their  service,  three  briga- 
dier-generals (two  of  them  major-generals  by  brevet), 
nine  colonels,  twelve  lieutenant-colonels,  nine  majors, 
twenty-five  captains,  seventeen  first  lieutenants,  sev- 
enteen second  lieutenants,  nineteen  sergeants,  five 
corporals,  besides  a  few  ensigns,  color-bearers,  and 
several  adjutants,  quartermasters  and  paymasters  of 
different  ranks.  Not  a  very  brilliant  show  of  supe- 
rior officers  in  comparison  with  some  of  the  less 
clerical  colleges  of  the  East,  or  some  of  the  more 
belligerent  institutions  of  the  West,  but  showing  a 
proportionate  number  of  promotions  far  beyond  the 
average  among  soldiers  drawn  from  the  community 
generally,  and  thus  illustrating  forcibly  the  value  of 
the  higher  education  in  the  military  service.  Never 
before  nor  since,  not  even  in  the  Prussian  army  in 
the  late  Franco-German  war,  were  there  so  many 
bayonets  that  could  read,  and  so  many  shoulder-straps 
that  could  think,  as  there  were  in  the  army  of  the 
United  States  that  put  down  the  great  rebellion;  and 
to  this  element  of  intellectual  and  moral  power  no 
other  communities  contributed  so  largely  as  the  col- 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  l8/ 

leges,  and  among  the  colleges  none  more  than  Am- 
herst. 

Thirteen  of  our  soldiers  were  confined  in  rebel 
prisons,  some  of  them  dragged  in  succession  through 
two,  three,  or  four  of  those  places  of  more  than  fiend- 
ish torture,  and  two  of  them  welcomed  death  as  a 
blessed  deliverance  from  the  starvation,  insults,  and 
cruelties,  worse  than  death,  to  which  such  prisoners 
were  subjected. 

The  classes  that  graduated  soon  after  the  opening 
of  the  war,  as  might  have  been  expected,  furnished 
the  largest  number  of  recruits  for  the  service.  In 
this  respect  '62  is  the  banner  class,  thirty  of  its 
members  having  gone  to  the  war;  '61  and  '63  each 
sent  twenty-three;  '64  furnished  fifteen;  and  '65 
twenty-one  for  the  service.  The  class  of  '65  lost  the 
largest  number;  six  of  its  members  died  in  the  ser- 
vice, four  of  whom  died  of  mortal  wounds  received 
on  the  field  of  battle;  '63  lost  four  men,  three  of 
whom  were  killed  in  battle;  '64  lost  the  same  num- 
ber. The  other  classes  above  named  lost  one  or  two 
men  each  upon  an  average. 

The  graduates  of  the  older  classes  were,  of  course, 
all  above  the  military  age,  and  could  not  be  expected 
to  furnish  many  soldiers.  But  not  a  few  of  them,  as 
we  learn  from  our  correspondence,  made  up  for  the 
deficiency  by  sending  their  sons  to  the  service.  The 
oldest  graduate  whose  name  appears  on  our  roll  was 
Rev.  Timothy  Robinson  Cressey  of  the  class  of  '28, 
who  went  himself  as  chaplain  of  the  Second  Regi- 
ment of  Minnesota  Volunteers,  and  took  with  him 
five  sons  into  the  service. 

"  In  all,"  he  writes,  "  we  served  fifteen  years  in  the 


1 88          A   HISTORY   OF  AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

war,  were  in  twenty  different  battles,  and  all  returned 
in  safety  without  the  loss  of  a  life  or  a  limb.  All 
still  live,  and  four  of  us  are  preaching  Christ  crucified, 
in  four  different  States,  Minnesota,  Michigan,  Illi- 
nois, and  Iowa." 

Rev.  William  A.  Hyde  of  the  next  class  ('29) 
writes :  "  I  had  four  sons  in  the  war — two  of  them  in 
nearly  all  the  war.  One  of  them  suffered  4 deaths 
oft'  in  rebel  prisons  for  about  ten  months.  He  saw 
Libby,  Danville,  Andersonville,  and  Florence  in  that 
time." 

Rev.  Benjamin  Schneider,  D.D.,  of  the  next  class 
('30),  the  veteran  missionary  at  Aintab  in  Western 
Turkey,  and  the  venerable  father  and  bishop  of  all 
the  Protestant  churches  in  that  section,  had  three 
sons  and  a  son-in-law  in  different  stages  of  educa- 
tion in  this  country,  one  of  them,  William  Tyler 
Schneider,  a  member  of  Amherst  College,  all  of 
whom  went  to  the  war,  three  in  the  army  and  one  in 
the  navy;  and  his  oldest  son,  James,  a  young  man  of 
rare  promise  who  was  preparing  to  rejoin  his  father 
in  the  missionary  work,  and  who  entered  the  army 
in  the  spirit  of  a  missionary,  lost  his  life  in  the  service. 

The  names  of  all  under-graduates  who  lost  their 
lives  in  the  service  were,  by  vote  of  the  trustees, 
enrolled  among  the  graduates  of  their  respective 
classes.  Special  favor  and  indulgence  were  extended 
freely,  when  asked,  to  all  under-graduates  who  served 
in  the  army,  and  returned  to  college. 

Through  the  wisdom  of  President  Stearns  and  the 
liberality  of  his  friend,  the  late  George  Howe,  Esq., 
of  Boston,  the  college  rejoices  in  a  monument  such 
as  exists  nowhere  else  to  commemorate  the  fallen 


A    HISTORY    OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  189 

heroes  of  the  war,  viz.,  a  memorial  chime  of  bells 
placed  in  the  tower  of  the  College  Church,  which 
began  to  give  forth  their  music  at  the  Semi-Centen- 
nial  Celebration,  and  which,  in  all  coming  time, 
while  they  fitly  introduce  the  services  of  the  Sabbath 
and  accompany  the  exercises  of  our  literary  festivals, 
and  grace  all  occasions  of  special  interest,  will  always 
be  associated  with  the  heroic  lives  and  martyr-like 
deaths  of  our  brave  soldiers,  and,  by  perpetuating 
their  memories,  stimulate  future  generations  of  stu- 
dents to  follow  their  example.  Among  the  fallen 
whose  memory  will  thus  be  perpetuated  is  a  son  of 
the  liberal  donor,  Sidney  Walker  Howe,  of  the  class 
of  '59,  who  was  killed  in  the  battle  of  Williamsburg, 
May  5,  1862,  only  a  few  months  after  he  entered  the 
service.  The  gun  captured  in  the  battle  of  New- 
bern,  and  bearing  the  names  of  those  who  fell  in  that 
battle,  stands  in  the  vestibule  of  the  Art  Museum. 
Thus  coming  generations  will  be  reminded  of  the 
virtues  and  sacrifices  of  our  brethren  who  lost  their 
lives  in  the  War  of  the  Great  Rebellion.  And  so 
long  as  a  single  classmate  or  college-mate  shall  sur- 
vive, we  will  enshrine  him  in  the  memory  of  our 
hearts.  And  often  as  we  meet  at  our  annual  re- 
unions and  call  the  rolls  of  our  respective  classes, 
when  their  names  are  called,  their  surviving  class- 
mates will  respond  for  them :  "  Dead  on  the  field  of 
battle"—"  Died  for  their  fatherland." 

The  war  closed  in  1865,  leaving  the  college  sadly 
depleted  in  numbers,  and  with  many  mourners.  But 
in  the  years  immediately  following  under  the  care 
of  President  Stearns  new  life  came  to  take  the  place 
of  that  which  was  lost,  the  classes  gradually  filled  up, 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

and  the  happy  prosperity  of  former  times  was  re- 
newed and  increased,  as  we  have  described  in  the 
preceding  chapter  concerning  President  Stearns's 
administration. 

One  event  of  importance,  however,  immediately 
following  the  sixties  remains  to  be  named — the  Semi- 
centennial Celebration. 

The  alumni  and  friends  of  a  college  whose  founda- 
tions were  laid  in  a  religious  faith  and  consecration 
so  nearly  akin  to  those  of  the  patriarchs  and  proph- 
ets of  olden  times  might  well  keep  the  fiftieth  anni- 
versary of  its  opening  as  a  "jubilee." 

The  first  steps  towards  associated  action  were  taken 
by  Prof.  Roswell  D.  Hitchcock  of  New  York  city. 
He  brought  the  subject  before  the  alumni  at  their 
annual  meeting,  July  8,  1868,  and  at  his  motion  the 
following  resolutions  were  adopted : 

"  Whereas  our  Alma  Mater  in  three  years  from 
now  will  have  completed  her  first  half-century; 
therefore 

"  Resolved,  That  the  trustees  of  the  college  be  re- 
quested to  make  provision  for  the  celebration  of  that 
event. 

"Resolved,  That  Prof.  William  S.  Tyler,  D.D.,  be 
requested  to  prepare  a  history  of  Amherst  College, 
which  shall  be  ready  for  delivery  at  Commencement, 
1871,  and  that  he  be  requested  also  to  address  the 
alumni  on  that  occasion. 

"  Resolved,  That  a  committee  of  three  be  appointed 
to  confer  with  the  trustees  and  with  Professor  Tyler, 
and  to  act  as  a  committee  of  arrangements  for  our 
approaching  semi-centennial." 

In  accordance  with  this  last  resolution,  Prof.   R. 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  igi 

D.  Hitchcock,  W.  A.  Dickinson,  Esq.,  and  Prof. 
R.  H.  Mather  were  appointed  such  a  committee,  to 
whom,  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  alumni,  July  13, 
1870,  Professors  Edward  Hitchcock  and  J.  H.  Seelye 
were  added. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  board,  July  9,  1868, 
the  foregoing  action  was  approved  by  the  trustees, 
and  the  prudential  committee  was  authorized  to 
confer  with  the  committee  of  the  alumni. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  trustees,  July  13, 
1870,  a  special  committee,  censisting  of  the  president 
and  Doctors  Paine,  Sabin,  and  Storrs,  was  appointed 
to  make  arrangements,  conjointly  with  the  committee 
of  the  alumni,  for  the  celebration  of  the  jubilee  of 
the  college  in  1871. 

There  was  some  discussion  and  some  difference  of 
opinion  among  the  alumni  and  friends  of  the  college 
as  to  the  proper  time  for  the  celebration.  As  the 
first  Commencement  was  held  in  1822,  the  Com- 
mencement in  1871  would  be  not  the  fiftieth  but  the 
forty-ninth  anniversary  of  that  day,  and  it  seemed  to 
some,  at  first  thought,  that  the  celebration  should 
be  at  the  fiftieth  Commencement,  which  would  be  in 
1872.  But  it  was  the  opening  of  the  college  to  re- 
ceive students,  and  not  its  first  Commencement,  which 
its  friends  desired  to  celebrate,  and  as  it  was  agreed 
that  Commencement  week  would  be  the  most  suitable 
and  convenient  time  for  the  celebration,  the  conclu- 
sion was  quite  unanimously  reached  that  the  Com- 
mencement of  1871,  although  it  would  occur  some 
two  months  earlier  than  the  exact  anniversary  of  the 
opening,  should  be  the  time. 

Not  a  few  of  the  alumni  reached  Amherst  the  Sat- 


192          A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

urday  previous  to  Commencement,  and  remained  till 
Friday  or  Saturday  of  the  next  week,  that  they  might 
have  time  to  recall  old  recollections  and  keep  a  week 
of  jubilee.  The  exercises  of  the  week  were  opened 
as  usual  on  Sunday  by  the  Sacrament  of  the  Lord's 
Supper  in  the  Chapel  in  the  morning,  and  the  bacca- 
laureate sermon  in  College  Hall  in  the  afternoon. 
President  Stearns  very  appropriately  took  for  the 
text  of  his  baccalaureate,  Leviticus  xxv.  10,  "Thou 
shalt  hallow  the  fiftieth  year,"  and  discoursed  on  the 
religious  history  and  characteristics  of  the  college, 
paying  at  the  same  time  a  feeling  and  generous 
tribute  to  the  men,  especially  the  members  of  the 
faculty,  who,  through  poverty  and  reproach,  had 
stood  by  it  in  its  dark  and  trying  hour. 

Monday  and  Tuesday  were  devoted  as  usual  to  the 
prize  exhibitions  and  declamations,  and  to  the  ex- 
ercises of  Class-day,  the  out-of  doo'r  performances  of 
the  latter,  however,  being  nearly  drowned  out  by 
copious  showers  which  were  to  purify  the  air  for  the 
next  day. 

Wednesday  from  early  morning  to  a  late  hour  in 
the  evening  was  given  up  to  the  jubilee.  The  day 
dawned  auspiciously,  and  continued  clear  and  bright, 
yet  cool  and  comfortable  even  to  its  close.  It  seemed 
made — it  doubtless  was  made — for  the  occasion.  In 
the  exercises  of  the  morning,  Hon.  Samuel  Williston, 
the  generous  benefactor  of  the  college,  fitly  presided. 
The  exercises  were  opened  with  prayer  by  Rev.  E.  P. 
Humphrey,  D.D.,  of  Louisville,  Ky.,  of  the  class  of 
'28,  and  the  eldest  son  of  the  second  president.  The 
assembly  then  joined  in  singing  the  doxology, 
"Praise  God  from  whom  all  blessings  flow," 


A   HISTORY    OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  193 

after  which  followed  the  address  of  welcome  by  Presi- 
dent Stearns,  and  the  historical  discourse  by  Professor 
Tyler. 

In  the  afternoon,  Hon.  A.  H.  Bullock  of  the  class 
of  '36,  presided,  and  addresses  were'  made  by  the 
presiding  officer,  by  Professor  Snell,  '22,  Dr.  Edward 
P.  Humphrey,  '28,  Rev.  H.  N.  Barnum,1  '52,  Rev. 
H.  W.  Beecher,  '34,  Prof.  E.  A.  Park,  Prof.  R.  D. 
Hitchcock,  '36,  and  Waldo  Hutchins,  Esq.,  '42. 

The  addresses,  both  of  the  forenoon  and  afternoon, 
besides  being  printed  in  full  at  the  time  in  The 
Springfield  Republican,  have  been  published  in  the  form 
of  a  pamphlet,  and,  having  been  sent  to  the  alumni 
generally,  have  doubtless  been  read  by  most  of  thQ 
readers  of  this  history.  It  is  therefore  quite  unnec- 
essary that  they  should  be  made  the  subject  of  analy- 
sis or  remark.  A  letter  from  Dr.  R.  S.  Storrs,  of  the 
class  of  '39,  which  was  read  by  Henry  Ward  Beecher, 
is  also  contained  in  this  pamphlet,  together  with  the 
addresses  of  Prof.  H.  B.  Hackett,  '30,  Bishop  Hunt- 
ington,  '39,  Hon.  H.  S.  Stockbridge,  '45,  Willard 
Merrill,  Esq.,  '54,  and  George  C.  Clarke,  Esq.,  '58, 
which  were  not  delivered  for  lack  of  time. 

The  exercises  were  held  beneath  a  spacious  tent 
which  was  spread  under  the  shadow  of  the  trees  in 
the  grove  where  the  students  of  Amherst,  through 
all  their  generations,  have  found  exercise  and  recrea- 
tion, have  walked  and  talked,  have  sat  and  conversed 
or  meditated,  and  where  every  object  that  met  the 
eye,  whether  in  the  grove  or  on  the  grounds,  or  in 
the  distance,  called  up  old  memories,  revived  hal- 
lowed associations,  and  spoke  with  scarcely  less  power 

1  Of  the  Turkish  Mission. 


194         A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

than  the  speakers,  to  their  minds  and  hearts.  The 
audience  was  large  and  the  tent  well  filled  in  the 
morning.  In  the  afternoon,  it  was  full  to  overflow- 
ing, and  it  was  calculated  that  there  were  at  least 
three  thousand  persons  in  it,  besides  many  who  stood 
around  the  open  sides,  or  sat  in  their  own  carriages 
on  the  grounds. 

Nearly  seven  hundred  of  the  alumni  were  present, 
that  is,  almost  one-half  of  the  whole  number  of  living 
graduates — a  number  two  or  three  times  larger  than 
had  ever  before  attended  Commencement,  and  "  a 
larger  proportion,  probably,  than  ever  assembled  at 
any  American  college."  Every  class  was  repre- 
sented. One-third  of  the  first  class  ('22)  was  present 
— one-half  of  its  living  members.  That  half  was 
Professor  Snell.  He  lamented  in  his  address  the 
absence  of  the  other  half,  which  he  modestly  and 
playfully  declared  to  be  "the  first  half,  the  oldest 
half,  the  greatest  half,  and  the  best  half" — the  Rev. 
Pindar  Field.  All  the  surviving  members  of  the 
second  class  ('23)  were  present,  viz. :  Rev.  The- 
ophilus  Packard  and  Rev.  Hiram  Smith,  both  from 
the  far  West;  '24,  '26,  and  '27,  were  each  represented 
by  three  persons,  about  one-third  of  the  surviving 
members,  and  these  came  from  almost  as  many  differ- 
ent States  and  belonged  to  nearly  as  many  different 
occupations  as  there  were  persons.  The  class  of  '25 
was  the  only  class  except  that  of  Professor  Snell,  of 
which  there  was  but  a  single  representative  present, 
and  he  came  from  Conway  in  obedience  to  a  tele- 
graphic dispatch  sent  by  some  zealous  brother 
alumnus  that  every  class  might  be  represented.  Six 
out  of  seventeen  survivors  represented  '28,  '29  was 


A    HISTORY   OF   AMHERST    COLLEGE.  195 

represented  by  five  out  of  nineteen,  '30  by  ten  out  of 
sixteen,  '31  by  fifteen  out  of  thirty -seven,  and  '32 
by  nine  out  of  twenty-three.  So  much  for  the  first 
decade.  In  the  second  decade  ('32-' 42),  the  largest 
number  present  was  from  '39,  viz.,  sixteen  out 
of  thirty-seven  living  members;  and  the  largest 
proportion  was  from  '36,  viz.,  thirteen  out  of 
twenty-eight.  The  average  attendance  from  the 
classes  of  this  decade  exceeded  thirty-five  per  cent 
of  the  living  members.  In  the  third  decade  the  per- 
centage was  but  little  more  than  twenty-five.  In  the 
fourth  decade  it  ran  up  nearly  to  fifty  per  cent,  and 
in  the  last  period,  as  might  have  been  expected,  it 
rose  to  considerably  more  than  half  the  living  mem- 
bers. The  largest  number  from  any  one  class  was 
from  '69,  who  by  special  request  granted  by  special 
favor  of  the  trustees,  received  their  second  degree  in 
1871,  and  who  were  represented  by  thirty- three  mem- 
bers. Next  to  '69  stood  '65,  being  represented  by 
twenty-nine  members.  These  facts,  which  may  per- 
haps be  reckoned  among  the  "  curiosities  of  the  jubi- 
lee," have  been  gathered  from  the  cards  which  were 
hung,  one  for  each  class,  in  the  reception  room  in 
Walker  Hall,  and  to  which  the  names  of  the  alumni 
were  transferred  as  fast  as  they  registered  them,  so 
that  each  alumnus  might  know  who  of  his  class  were 
present,  and  where  they  were  to  be  found.  These 
cards  or  scrolls  (for  they  are  more  than  a  foot 
square)  have  been  preserved,  and  will  be  among  the 
curiosities  of  literature  in  coming  ages.  The  original 
register  in  which  the  alumni  entered  their  names 
as  they  arrived  may  also  be  seen  in  the  library,  and 
is  an  autograph  book  of  rare  and  unique  interest. 


196          A   HISTORY    OF   AMHERST    COLLEGE. 

The  alumni  came  from  every  part  of  our  own 
country  and  from  every  quarter  of  the  globe.  Class- 
mates and  friends  who  boarded  together,  perhaps 
roomed  together,  perhaps  sat  side  by  side  for  four 
years,  but  who  had  not  seen  each  other  for  ten, 
twenty,  thirty,  forty,  almost  fifty  years,  met  as 
strangers,  gazed  in  each  other's  faces,  heard  each 
other's  voices,  and  perhaps  did  not  discover  a  trace 
of  the  features  or  even  the  tones  once  so  familiar,  or 
did  perhaps  catch  a  ray,  and  at  length,  with  the  help 
maybe  of  a  hint  or  allusion  from  a  bystander,  began 
to  conjecture  the  person;  but  when  the  discovery 
was  made,  they  rushed  into  each  other's  embrace. 
Many  such  scenes  of  bewilderment  marked  these 
meetings  and  greetings  in  which  the  language  was 
often  little  more  than  a  strange  mixture  of  laughter 
and  tears.  Wednesday  evening  was  given  up  to  a 
reunion  in  College  Hall,  and  much  of  the  night  was 
spent  in  class  meetings  of  such  deep  and  thrilling 
interest  as  only  they  who  have  been  present  at  such 
meetings  know,  and  even  they  cannot  fully  tell. 

They  seem  to  have  gone  away  pleased  with  them- 
selves and  each  other,  proud  of  their  mother,  loving 
their  brothers^  feeling  that  they  had  a  good  time, 
and  fully  persuaded  that  whoever  should  keep  the 
centennial  jubilee  of  the  college  in  1921  would  have 
a  still  better  time  and  find  a  great  deal  more  to  ad- 
mire and  rejoice  in. 

Several  of  the  classes  left  behind  them  class  schol- 
arships as  an  expression  of  their  gratitude  and  filial 
devotion.  The  plan  as  originated  by  Prof.  R.  D. 
Hitchcock  contemplated  at  least  one  by  each  class. 
His  own  class  set  the  example  by  establishing 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  197 

three.1  The  catalogue  issued  in  the  fall  of  1871, 
next  after  the  jubilee,  announces  fifty  scholarships 
in  all,  of  which  about  half  were  not  on  the  previous 
catalogue,2  and  several  other  class  scholarships  as 
established  in  part.  When  the  harvest  is  all  gathered 
in,  perhaps  the  result  will  be  not  less  than  fifty 
scholarships  of  one  thousand  dollars  each,  which, 
with  Mr.  Williston's  donation,  will  make  up  the 
handsome  sum  of  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  of 
free-will  offerings  resulting  directly  or  indirectly 
from  the  jubilee. 

1  Including  that  established  by  Governor  Bullock. 

2  Several  of  these  are  not  class  scholarships. 


CHAPTER  X. 

DIFFICULTIES  IN  SELECTING  PRESIDENT  STEARNS's  SUC- 
CESSOR— PROFESSOR  SEELYE'S  ELECTION — SUCCESS- 
FUL OPENING  OF  HIS  ADMINISTRATION — ADDITIONS 

TO  THE  FACULTY — THE  ADMINISTRATION  OF  PRESI- 
DENT   SEELYE INAUGURATION  OF  THE  "  AMHERST 

SYSTEM" — REMARKABLE  PROSPERITY   OF   THE  COL- 
LEGE. 

THERE  were  several  novel  and  important  features 
in  the  accession  of  Professor  Seelye  to  the  presidency. 
He  was  the  first  and  only  alumnus  of  the  college  who 
has  attained  to  that  distinction.  He  was  the  first 
professor  on  the  literary  and  philosophical  side  of  the 
faculty  to  be  elevated  to  that  office.  But  aside  from 
these  incidental  novelties  a  new  question  arose  for 
the  first  time  in  connection  with  his  nomination  and 
election.  In  the  appointment  of  his  predecessors  it 
was  taken  for  granted,  as  a  matter  of  course,  that  the 
president  of  Amherst  College  must  be  a  clergyman 
— that  he  was  to  be  the  head  of  the  college  in  its 
spiritual  interests  as  well  as  in  literature  and  science, 
and  that  he  must  be  chosen  with  primary  reference 
to  his  Christian  character  and  his  influence  in  the 
religious  education  of  the  students.  When  Professor 
Seelye  was  elected,  there  was  a  minority  of  the  trus- 
tees, and  perhaps  a  majority  of  the  faculty,  who  were 
at  first  in  favor  of  the  appointment  of  a  distinguished 

198 


A   HISTORY    OF   AMHERST    COLLEGE.  199 

layman,  who  might  give  dignity  to  the  office  and 
bring  reputation  to  the  college.  And  this  movement 
was  prevented  from  being  successful  and  becoming 
an  accomplished  fact  by  circumstances  so  remarkable 
that  I  cannot  but  regard  them  as  special  providences 
deserving  to  be  recorded  by  the  historian  of  the  col- 
lege among  the  magnalia  of  its  early  history. 

I  have  therefore  taken  not  a  little  pains  to  ascer- 
tain the  facts  from  original  and  authentic  sources, 
and  put  them  on  record  till  such  times  as  they  can 
be  incorporated  with  the  history  of  the  college  with- 
out injury  to  the  feelings  of  any  of  the  actors,  which 
will  probably  not  be  until  not  only  myself  but  they 
also  have  passed  off  the  stage.  Meanwhile  the  fol- 
lowing general  statements  may  perhaps  be  recorded 
without  impropriety  in  this  history. 

In  justice  to  those  who  favored  such  a  departure 
from  the  precedents  and  traditions  not  only  of  Am- 
herst,  but  of  all  our  older  colleges,  it  should  be  re- 
marked that  the  recent  establishment  of  a  professor- 
ship of  the  pastoral  care,  whose  incumbent  should  be 
the  pastor  of  the  College  Church,  or  associate  pastor 
with  the  president,  doubtless  seemed  to  them  to  ren- 
der it  less  important  that  the  president  should  be  a 
clergyman  and  one  who  would  be  especially  inter- 
ested in  the  Christian  education  of  the  students. 

President  Stearns  died  suddenly,  as  we  have  nar- 
rated in  a  preceding  chapter,  on  Thursday,  June  8, 
1876.  He  had  fully  determined  to  resign  the  presi- 
dency at  the  approaching  Commencement,  and  had 
already  written  his  resignation.  He  wished,  how- 
ever, and  expected,  to  retain  for  the  present  the  pas- 
torate and  the  Samuel  Green  professorship  of  Biblical 


200          A    HISTORY    OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

interpretation.  This  was  the  more  natural  and  proper 
because  the  founder  of  the  professorship  had  ex- 
pressly provided  in  his  will  that  Dr.  Stearns  should 
perform  the  duties  of  the  office  and  have  the  income 
of  the  fund  during  his  life.  Only  one  week  prior  to 
his  death  he  had  an  interview  with  his  friend,  Hon. 
Alpheus  Hardy,  in  Boston,  in  which  he  disclosed  to 
him  his  plan  and  purpose,  and  desired  him  to  com- 
municate the  same  to  the  trustees  at  their  approach- 
ing meeting  and  carry  the  measure  through  the 
board,  adding  that  it  was  with  this  view  that  he  had 
induced  the  trustees  not  to  accept  Mr.  Hardy's  resig- 
nation of  his  trusteeship  tendered  the  year  previous, 
and  there  was  no  other  member  of  the  board  to  whom 
he  could  so  freely  and  fully  confide  a  matter  of  so 
great  importance.  Mr.  Hardy  accepted  the  trust  in 
the  same  spirit  of  confidence  and  friendship  in  which 
it  had  been  committed  to  him,  and  then  asked  Presi- 
dent Stearns  if,  in  view  of  the  trust  thus  reposed  and 
thus  undertaken,  he  would  be  willing  further  to  make 
known  to  him  his  views  in  regard  to  the  question 
who  should  be  his  successor  in  the  presidency.  Presi- 
dent Stearns  then  expressed  himself  with  great 
frankness  to  his  friend,  and  gave  him  the  names  of 
three  men,  all  clergymen  and  all  alumni  of  the  college, 
either  of  whom  he  thought  would  fill  the  place  well, 
and  one  of  whom  he  hoped  might  succeed  him  in  the 
presidential  office.  One  of  those  names  was  that  of 
Professor  Seelye.  Just  a  week  after  that  interview 
Mr.  Hardy  took  up  a  newspaper  in  New  York,  and 
read  of  the  sudden  death  of  President  Stearns. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  trustees,  June  27, 
1876-— only  three  weeks  after  the  death  of  the  presi- 


A    HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.          2OI 

dent — a  committee  was  appointed  to  take  into  con- 
sideration the  presidential  vacancy  and  report  at  a 
meeting  to  be  held  in  Boston  not  later  than  the  first 
week  in  August.  This  committee  found  themselves 
beset  with  difficulties.  They  differed  among  them- 
selves, both  as  to  the  general  question  whether  the 
president  should  be  a  clergyman,  and  in  their  per- 
sonal preferences  in  regard  to  the  most  suitable  can- 
didate for  the  office;  and  this  difference  of  wishes 
and  feelings  in  the  committee  represented  or  reflected 
a  corresponding  difference  in  the  whole  board.  The 
members  of  the  faculty  were  officially  consulted,  and 
it  was  found  that  they  were  about  equally  divided, 
half  of  them  favoring  strongly  the  appointment  of 
Professor  Seelye,  and  the  other  half  preferring  some 
other  candidate,  the  scientific  professors,  as  a  general 
fact,  being  unfavorable,  and  those  in  the  departments 
of  literature  and  history  favorable  to  the  appoint- 
ment of  Professor  Seelye.  Besides  their  fear  that 
he  would  not  do  justice  to  science  in  the  presidency, 
there  were  personal  and  general  grounds  of  opposi- 
tion both  in  the  faculty  and  in  the  Board  of  Trustees. 
He  would  not  be  popular  with  the  students.  He 
could  not  sympathize  with  young  men.  He  would 
be  autocratic,  overbearing,  and  severe  in  the  admin- 
istration of  the  government.  He  would  not  be,  he 
could  not  be  expected  to  be,  impartial  in  his  relations 
to  the  faculty.  In  short,  it  was  a  pity  to  spoil  a  good 
professor  in  order  to  make  a  poor  president. 

Political  prejudices  also  came  in  to  aggravate  the 
difficulty.  Professor  Seelye  was  at  this  time  a  mem- 
ber of  Congress,  having  been  elected  in  1874  over 
the  nominees  of  both  the  great  parties  by  the  inde- 


202          A    HISTORY    OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

pendent  votes  of  republicans  and  democrats.  He 
had  already  served  through  the  first  session  of  the 
Forty-fourth  Congress  with  distinguished  success,  and 
was  bound  in  honor  to  represent  his  constituents  in 
the  coming  second  session,  and  what  further  political 
possibilities,  probabilities,  temptations,  and  aspira- 
tions might  lie  before  him  in  the  future  no  one  could 
tell.  He  had  been  suspected  at  one  time,  very  un- 
justly, of  aspiring  to  supersede  Dr.  Stearns  in  the 
presidency  of  the  college.  Now  perhaps  he  would  be 
tempted  to  aspire  to  the  presidency  of  the  United 
States.  There  was  a  strange  fascination  in  the  at- 
mosphere of  Washington  which  it  was  not  easy  for 
those  who  had  once  breathed  it  to  resist.  Professor 
Seelye  would  of  course  be  solicited  to  be  a  candidate 
for  a  second  term  in  the  House  of  Representatives,1 
and  would  naturally  desire  re-election,  and  this  might 
open  the  way  to  the- Senate,  to  a  place  in  the  Cabinet, 
to  no  one  knew  what  honors.  Under  such  circum- 
stances it  was  not  at  all  likely  that  he  would  accept 
the  presidency  of  the  college,  if  it  was  offered  him. 
After  much  discussion,  at  the  close  of  a  long^  session 
which  came  perilously  near  to  ending  without  any- 
thing being  done,  the  committee  at  length  agreed 
to  open  a  correspondence  with  him  and  offer  him  the 
nomination  on  certain  conditions.  The  correspond- 
ence was  opened,  but  it  only  multiplied  and  aggra- 
vated the  difficulties.  The  office  of  representative 

1  If  this  question  of  the  Amherst  presidency  had  come  up 
three  or  four  months  later,— if,  for  instance,  President  Stearns 
had  died  in  September,  instead  of  in  June,  President  Seelye 
would  in  all  probability  have  been  committed  to  a  continuance 
in  political  life,  and  would  have  been  lost  to  the  college. 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.          203 

in  Congress  had  come  to  him  unsought  and  uncondi- 
tioned ;  why  should  he  submit  to  any  conditions 
now?  No  pledges  were  required  of  him  then;  why 
should  they  be  asked  of  him  now? 

The  whole  thing  wore  too  much  the  aspect  of  a 
bargain,  and  a  bargain  for  a  place  was  to  him  an  un- 
speakable abhorrence.  He  had  never  in  his  life 
lifted  a  hand  or  paid  a  penny  for  a  place,  and  it 
would  be  soon  enough  for  him  to  say  whether  he 
would  accept  the  presidency  of  Amherst  College 
when  it  was  freely  and  fully  offered  to  him.  In  tlie 
course  of  the  correspondence,  which  was  prolonged 
and  some  of  it  spicy,  it  became  apparent  that  while 
the  professor  had  little  taste  or  inclination  for  poli- 
tics, he  had  a  positive  dislike  and  disinclination  to 
many  of  the  peculiar  and  perfunctory  duties  of  a 
college  president,  which  nothing  but  a  manifest  call 
of  Providence  and  an  imperative  sense  of  duty  could 
induce  him  to  undertake. 

But  I  have  already  gone  more  into  the  details  of 
this  transaction  than  I  intended,  perhaps  more  than 
was  prudent  or  necessary.  Suffice  it  to  say,  that  the 
committee  was  at  length  led,  it  is  needless  to  say 
how,  to  offer  him  a  unanimous  call ;  tlie  professor 
was  led  to  see,  it  is  not  necessary  to  say  under  what 
influences,  that  it  was  a  call  of  duty  and  of  God ;  and 
at  a  meeting  of  the  board  held  in  Boston  on  the  28th  of 
July,  1876,  the  trustees  by  a  unanimous  vote  elected 
him  president  and  professor  of  mental  and  moral  phil- 
osophy in  Amherst  College.  And  it  is  now  quite  un- 
necessary to  tell  in  detail  how  completely  experience 
has  falsified  the  fears  and  forebodings  of  those  who  op- 
posed the  election  of  Professor  Seelye  to  the  presi- 


204         A   HISTORY   OF  AMHERST    COLLEGE. 

dency.  It  was  feared  that  he  would  be  partial  to 
literature  and  philosophy,  and  unfriendly  to  science. 
One  of  the  first  acts  of  his  administration  was  to  take 
measures  for  the  purchase  by  the  college  of  the 
Shepard  cabinet  and  to  raise  by  his  own  personal 
efforts  the  large  sum  of  money  by  which  it  was  pro- 
cured. This  was  soon  followed  by  the  inauguration 
of  the  department  of  biology  and  the  Stone  endow- 
ment. It  was  feared  that  he  would  be  partial  to  his 
particular  friends  in  the  faculty,  and  harbor  resent- 
ment against  those  who  opposed  his  election.  So  far 
from  that,  the  language  of  the  Tyrian  queen  would 
seem  to  have  been  his  motto: 

Tros  Tyriusque  mihi  nullo  discrimine  agetur. 

It  was  said  that  he  would  be  dictatorial  and  severe 
in  his  administration  of  the  government,  unsympa- 
thizing  and  so  unpopular  with  the  students.  "  The 
New  System"  of  self-government  at  Amherst,  which 
is  the  admiration  of  Amherst  students  and  the  envy 
or  the  model  of  other  colleges,  is  the  best  and  the 
sufficient  answer  to  this  allegation.  Indeed  they 
who  feared  any  such  thing  of  President  Seelye  could 
have  known  little  of  Professor  Seelye's  devotion  of 
time,  talents,  attainments,  and  personal  services  to 
individual  students.  This  grand  secret  of  his  power 
and  usefulness  as  a  teacher  had  only  a  freer  scope 
and  wider  sway  and  higher  appreciation  when  he 
became  president.  They  had  more  reason  who  ap- 
prehended that  his  sovereign  contempt  and  scorn  for 
everything  unworthy  of  a  man  and  a  scholar  might 
make  him  impatient  of  the  follies  and  imperfections 
of  students.  But  responsibility  brings  patience  and 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.          205 

forbearance,  and  this  fear  proved  to  be  utterly 
groundless.  It  was  said  that  he  would  have  neither 
talent  nor  disposition  to  raise  money  for  the  college. 
The  Shepard  cabinet,  the  Parmly  Billings  professor- 
ship of  hygiene  and  physical  education,  the  Chester 
W.  Chapin  endowment  of  the  presidency,  the  Stone 
professorship  of  biology,  the  Marquand  instructorship 
in  elocution,  the  Winkley  professorship  of  history, 
the  rebuilding  of  Walker  Hall  after  the  conflagra- 
tion, the  Pratt  gymnasium,  the  Henry  T.  Morgan 
library,  the  munificent  donation  of  Mr.  D.  Willis 
James  for  the  general  purposes  of  the  college  coming 
into  the  treasury  after  his  resignation,  but  given  out 
of  special  regard  to  him,  and  hence  named  the  Seelye 
Fund — all  these  and  other  gifts  of  which  a  more  defi- 
nite statement  will  be  given  on  a  subsequent  page, 
rise  up  before  us  and  testify  how  utterly  without 
foundation,  and  diametrically  opposite  to  the  truth, 
this  prediction  was.  True,  several  of  these  gifts, 
perhaps  most  of  them,  were  not  solicited,  but  the 
witness  they  bear  is  only  the  more  unequivocal  and 
the  more  eloquent  because  the  gifts  were  the  spon- 
taneous expression  of  the  confidence  and  good  will 
of  the  donors. 

In  short,  I  believe  that  the  same  wise  and  kind 
Providence  that  has  raised  up  his  predecessors,  all 
excellent  men,  and  each  with  gifts  and  graces  suited 
to  the  exigency,  made  President  Seelye,  and  educated 
him,  and  sanctified  him,  and  by  all  his  antecedents 
prepared  him,  in  the  first  place  to  be  a  great  and 
rare  educator,  and  then  to  be  president  of  Amherst 
College  and  guide  it  in  the  accomplishment  of  its 
great  work ;  and  so  God  did  not  permit  His  plan  and 


206          A    HISTORY    OF   AMHERST    COLLEGE. 

purpose  to  be  thwarted  by  the  disinclination  of  the 
candidate  himself,  by  the  doubts  and  mistakes  of 
good  men  and  friends  of  the  college,  or  by  outside 
temptations,  however  strong,  to  other  spheres  of 
action. 

President  Seelye's  election  took  place,  as  we  have 
already  said,  in  July,  1876,  and  he  entered  upon  the 
duties  of  the  office  in  September  at  the  beginning  of 
the  next  collegiate  year.  But  in  accordance  with  his 
understanding  with  the  trustees  he  completed  his 
term  of  service  in  Congress  by  sitting  through  its 
second  session,  leaving  the  acting  presidency  mean- 
while in  the  hands  of  Prof.  W.  S.  Tyler ;  and  he  was 
not  inaugurated  until  the  close  of  his  first  year.  The 
inauguration  took  place  at  Commencement,  June  27, 
1877.  The  public  exercises  consisted  of  prayer  by 
Rev.  Edmund  K.  Alden,  D.D.,  of  Boston,  the  address 
on  the  part  of  the  trustees  and  the  delivery  of  the  seal 
and  the  keys  of  the  college  by  Rev.  Prof.  Roswell  D. 
Hitchcock  of  Union  Theological  Seminary  in  New 
York,  and  the  inaugural  address  of  President  Seelye. 
Dr.  Hitchcock  spoke  with  characteristic  felicity, begin- 
ning as  follows:  "The  whole  college  bids  you  wel- 
come to  its  highest  seat,  trustees,  alumni,  teachers 
and  students  are  all  united  and  earnest  in  the  persua- 
sion of  your  eminent  fitness  for  the  new  position, 
united  and  earnest  also  in  the  expectation  of  your  emi- 
nent success.  You  are  no  stranger  here,  and  nothing 
is  strange  to  you.  Made  president  of  the  college  after 
eighteen  years  of  constant  and  conspicuous  service 
in  one  of  its  departments  of  instruction,  the  element 
of  novelty  is  almost  wholly  wanting.  Retaining  the 
chair  in  which  you  have  earned  your  fame,  you  now 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST    COLLEGE.          2O/ 

merely  add  to  its  familiar  duties  that  general  over- 
sight of  the  institution  with  which  you  must  be  al- 
most equally  familiar. 

"  You  are  also  well  across  the  threshold  of  the  new 
office.  The  class  that  graduates  to-morrow  carries 
with  it  the  memory  of  your  first  presidential  year. 
And  neither  you  nor  we  have  anything  to  ask  for  but 
a  repetition  of  the  year's  record  for  many  and  many 
a  year  to  come. 

"  The  college  is  happy  and  proud  to  be  led  at  last 
by  one  of  its  own  alumni.  Your  four  predecessors 
were  all  providential  men.  The  four  administra- 
tions lie  in  our  history  like  so  many  geological  de- 
posits. The  future  need  not  contradict  nor  criticise 
the  past,  but  a  robust  vitality  instinctively  asserts 
itself  in  better  and  better  forms.  We  salute  you, 
therefore,  at  once  as  the  fifth  and  as  the  first  of.  our 
Amherst  presidents." 

The  inaugural  address  is  equally  characteristic. 
Its  subject  is  "  The  Relations  of  Learning  and  Relig- 
ion." It  begins  with  stating  the  fact,  that  "Am- 
herst College  was  founded  by  Christian  people  and 
for  a  Christian  purpose.  .  .  .  From  President  Moore, 
in  whose  saintly  zeal  the  earliest  students  of  the 
college  found  both  instruction  and  inspiration,  to 
President  Stearns,  whose  purity  and  faith  surrounded 
his  presence  like  a  halo,  ennobling  him  and  enlight- 
ening and  elevating  all  who  had  contact  with  him, 
the  controlling  purpose  of  the  college  has  been  to 
provide  the  highest  possible  educational  advantages, 
and  to  penetrate  these  with  a  living  faith  in  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  a  supreme  devotion  to  His 
kingdom.  And  in  all  this  Amherst  College  is  not 


208          A    HISTORY   OF   AMHERST    COLLEGE. 

peculiar.  Other  institutions  of  learning  have  been 
founded  and  carried  forward  with  the  same  purpose. 
The  schools  of  the  Christian  world  trace  their  actual 
historical  origin  to  the  Christian  church." 

The  middle  and  main  staple  of  the  address  is  the 
author's  philosophy  of  the  subject,  which  is  briefly 
this:  There  is  no  inherent  law  of  progress  in  human 
nature.  Over  by  far  the  larger  portion  of  the  globe, 
and  by  far  the  larger  portion  of  mankind,  retrogres- 
sion reigns  instead  of  progress,  and  this  is  true  as 
we  look  back  through  all  ages.  So  far  as  records  of 
history  go,  no  nation  ever  originated  its  own  prog- 
ress. No  savage  has  ever  civilized  himself.  The 
lamp  which  lightens  one  nation  in  its  progress  has 
always  been  lighted  by  a  lamp  behind  it.  Civiliza- 
tion comes  to  a  people  not  from  itself,  but  from  an- 
other, not  from  within  but  from  without,  not  from 
below  but  from  above,  not  from  the  many  and  bad 
but  from  the  few  and  the  wise  and  the  good,  ulti- 
mately from  heaven  and  Christ  and  God.  In  the 
history  of  human  knowledge  science  is  always  pre- 
ceded and  quickened  by  art,  yet  art  does  not  sponta- 
neously originate.  While  the  mother  of  science,  she 
herself  is  the  child  of  religion.  Architecture,  sculp- 
ture, painting,  poetry,  music,  it  was  a  religious  im- 
pulse which  gave  to  all  these  their  first  inspiration. 
There  is  no  high  art,  there  is  never  a  great  genius, 
uninspired  by  some  sort  of  a  religious  sentiment  and 
impulse.  As  the  seed  whose  growth  shall  fill  the 
fields  with  plenty  and  also  the  earth  with  beauty, 
slumbers  in  the  earth  in  darkness,  and  with  no  signs 
of  life  till  the  warmth  of  the  sun  comes  nigh,  so  all 
the  thoughts  of  men,  with  whatever  capabilities  of 


A   HISTORY    OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.          209 

art  and  science  endowed,  lie  dormant  in  the  soul  till 
some  divine  communication  stirs  the  soul  with  the 
sense  of  its  accountability  and  its  sin  and  kindles  it 
with  a  longing  for  the  favor  of  its  God. 

And  the  conclusion  of  the  whole  matter  is  this: 
"  A  Christian  college,  if  it  is  to  be  in  the  long  run 
truly  successful  in  the  advancement  of  learning,  will 
have  the  Christian  name  written  not  alone  upon  its 
seal  and  its  first  records,  but  graven  in  its  life  as  in- 
effaceably  as  was  the  name  of  Phidias  on  Athene's 
shield.  It  will  seek  for  Christian  teachers  and  only 
these — men  in  whom  -are  seen  the  dignity  and  purity 
and  grace  of  Christ's  disciples,  and  whose  lips  instruct 
while  their  lives  inspire.  It  will  order  all  its  studies 
and  its  discipline  that  its  pupils,  through  the  deep  and 
permanent  impulse  of  a  life  by  the  faith  of  the  Son 
of  God,  may  be  led  to  the  largest  thoughts  and 
kindled  to  the  highest  aims  with  an  energy  undying, 
and  an  enthusiasm  which  does  not  fade.  It  will  not 
be  ashamed  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ  nor  remiss  in 
preaching  that  gospel  to  its  students,  'till  they  all 
come  in  the  unity  of  the  faith  and  of  the  knowledge 
of  the  Son  of  God  unto  a  perfect  man. '  " 

With  such  views  of  the  relation  of  learning  and 
religion,  and  fully  believing,  as  he  did,  that  the  presi- 
dent of  a  college  should  be  its  religious  as  well  as  its 
secular  head,  it  is  not  surprising  that  he  chose  to  be 
the  pastor  of  the  College  Church.  He  was  installed 
in  the  pastoral  office  in  June,  1877,  even  before  he 
was  inaugurated  in  the  presidency,  an  ecclesiastical 
council,  consisting  mainly  of  the  pastors  and  dele- 
gates of  the  neighboring  churches,  being  invited  by 
the  College  Church  to  assist  in  the  installation  ser- 

E  LiB 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY, 


2IO         A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

vices,  and  a  sermon  being  preached  by  Rev.  Dr.  R.  S. 
Storrs  of  Brooklyn,  a  graduate  of  the  college,  and  a 
member  of  its  Board  of  Trustees.  At  the  same  time, 
magnifying  the  pulpit  and  the  pastoral  office  as  an 
educating  power,  and  feeling  that  there  was  work 
enough  in  that  line  to  task  the  energies  of  more  than 
one  man,  and  that  work  could  not  be  fully  done  with- 
out some  one  being  charged  with  the  special  respon- 
sibility of  it,  he  welcomed  an  associate  pastor  in  the 
Samuel  Green  professor  of  Biblical  history  and 
interpretation  and  pastoral  care.  According  to  the 
will  of  the  founder  of  this  professorship,  it  will  be 
remembered,  its  incumbent  must  be  either  pastor  or 
associate  pastor  of  the  College  Church,  and,  while  it 
was  expressly  provided  that  Dr.  Stearns  should  hold 
the  professorship  together  with  the  presidency,  it 
was  required  that  after  him  the  two  offices  should  be 
separated,  and  during  the  presidency  of  Dr.  Seelye 
he  continued  to  be  the  pastor  of  the  church,  and  the 
Samuel  Green  professor  was  the  associate  pastor.1 
Besides  the  president  and  the  professor  of  the  pas- 
toral care,  several  other  professors  who  were  clergy- 
men occupied  the  college  pulpit  in  turn,  as  they  had 
been  accustomed  to  do  from  the  beginning,  thus  se- 
curing that  variety  which  is  so  attractive  to  young 
men,  and  at  the  same  time  enlisting  the  professors 
directly  in  ministering  to  the  spiritual  welfare  as 

1  Experience  at  length  convinced  President  Seelye  that  the 
professor  of  the  "pastoral  care"  ought  to  be  the  pastor  of  the 
College  Church,  and  in  one  of  his  later  annual  reports  to  the 
trustees  he  states  to  them  this  conviction,  saying  that  while 
personally  he  should  prefer  to  be  himself  the  pastor,  the  pas- 
toral office  was  essential  to  the  free  and  full  discharge  of  the 
duties  of  the  Samuel  Green  professorship. 


A   HISTORY    OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.          211 

well  as  the  intellectual  culture  of  the  students.  This 
arrangement  may  not  be  as  acceptable  to  students  as 
that  which  now  prevails  of  inviting  popular  preachers 
from  abroad  to  occupy  the  pulpit  several  Sundays 
every  year.  But  it  had  its  counterbalancing  advan- 
tages. While  providing  a  good  measure  of  variety 
it  did  not  minister  to  mere  curiosity  and  love  of 
novelty,  and  it  did  secure  in  a  greater  degree  unity 
of  instruction  and  impression,  adaptation  to  the  pre- 
vailing and  changing  wants  of  the  audience,  and 
concentration  of  the  whole  power  and  influence  of 
the  faculty  upon  the  Christian  character  and  life  of 
the  college.  President  Seelye  believed  in  the  forma- 
tion of  character  and  the  education  and  training  of 
the  whole  man  as  the  chief  end  of  the  college,  in  the 
pulpit  as  a  great  power  in  such  education,  and  in 
ministers  as  by  their  own  training,  character,  and 
life  an  educating  guild,  class,  or  profession.  He  had 
no  sympathy  with  the  now  prevailing  and  growing 
prejudice  against  clerical  presidents  and  professors, 
still  less  with  the  clamor  and  outcry  among  college 
students  against  so-called  compulsory  attendance 
upon  church  and  chapel  Cervices.  Much  as  he  en- 
joyed teaching  his  favorite  philosophy  to  the  senior 
class,  he  delighted  still  more  in  preaching  the  word 
of  God  and  the  gospel  of  Christ  to  the  whole  college. 
And  he  preached  usually  without  notes,  but  never 
without  much  thought  and  prayer,  the  great  central 
truths  of  Christianity  with  a  depth  of  thought,  a 
breadth  of  learning,  a  power  of  reasoning,  a  wealth  of 
expression,  and  a  fervor  of  feeling  which  lifted  his 
hearers  quite  above  themselves  and  the  world  into  the 
very  presence  of  God  and  of  things  unseen  and  eternal. 


212          A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

The  first  incumbent  of  the  Samuel  Green  professor- 
ship  and  the  office  of  associate  pastor  with  President 
vSeelye  was  Rev.  Thomas  P.  Field,  who  entered  upon 
the  duties  of  the  office  in  1878.  Dr.  Field  had  gained 
a  wide  experience  and  won  an  enviable  reputation 
both  in  college  and  in  the  pastoral  office,  having  been 
both  a  tutor  and  the  professor  of  rhetoric  and  oratory 
in  Amherst,  and  pastor  of  churches  successively  in 
Danvers,  Mass.,  Troy,  N.  Y.,  and  New  London, 
Conn.  By  his  attractive  person,  sympathetic  nature, 
courteous  manners,  high  scholarship,  wide  and  varied 
culture,  and  his  success  as  a  teacher  and  a  preacher, 
he  was  admirably  fitted  for  the  place.  But  to  borrow 
his  own  language  in  his  brief  history  of  Amherst 
College  written  for  the  bureau  of  education,  "  as  no 
more  preaching  was  required  of  him  than  of  the 
other  preaching  professors,  as  the  president  continued 
to  be  the  pastor  of  the  College  Church,  and  as  there 
were  difficulties  in  the  way  of  pastoral  visitation  not 
found  in  other  parishes,  the  first  incumbent  of  the 
professorship  was  a  professor  rather  than  a  pastor. 
He  gave  instruction  in  the  Hebrew  language  and 
literature,  gave  some  lectures  on  Biblical  history  and 
on  examples  of  Christian  character,  and  taught  classes 
in  natural  theology  and  the  evidences  of  Christianity, 
devoting  as  many  hours  to  such  instruction  as  the 
other  professors  did  in  their  departments.  This  did 
not  seem  to  be  precisely  the  original  object  of  the 
professorship,  but  came  as  near  to  accomplishing  the 
same  as  appeared  to  be  practicable  under  the  cir- 
cumstances, with  the  continual  consciousness,  how- 
ever, on  the  part  of  the  incumbent  that  something 
better  might  be  attempted  and  done.  With  that 


A   HISTORY    OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.          213 

feeling  he  resigned  the  professorship  in  1886,  and 
after  a  few  months  Rev.  George  S.  Burroughs,  of 
New  Britain,  Conn.,  was  appointed."  With  superior 
talents,  fine  scholarship,  courteous  manners,  an  ami- 
able spirit,  Christian  zeal,  and  a  heartfelt  desire  for 
the  temporal  and  eternal  welfare  of  the  students,  Dr. 
Burroughs  labored  with  rare  fidelity,  earnestness, 
and  enthusiasm  as  pastor,  preacher,  and  teacher,  and 
accomplished  much  for  the  upbuilding  of  the  College 
Church  and  the  advancement  of  Christian  learning. 
His  success  as  a  Bible  teacher  in  inspiring  even  irre- 
ligious students  with  enthusiasm  in  the  study  of  the 
Scriptures  was  remarkable.  In  the  pulpit  and  the 
work  of  the  pastor  he  found  it  more  difficult  to  real- 
ize his  high  ideals,  and  when,  in  1892,  he  was  invited 
to  the  presidency  of  Wabash  College,  the  conscious- 
ness of  this  difficulty  perhaps  conspired  with  the 
attractions  of  the  new  sphere  of  usefulness  in  induc- 
ing him  to  accept  the  call. 

President  Seelye  was  wise  and  happy  in  his  choice 
of  new  professors.  His  first  question  in  regard  to 
a  candidate  was  not,  Is  he  popular,  has  he  a  high 
reputation  and  a  great  name,  is  he  already  distin- 
guished as  a  scholar  and  a  teacher?  but,  What  sort  of 
a  man  is  he,  is  he  a  real,  true,  and  complete  man? 
He  must  be  a  Christian  of  course,  for  "  the  Christian 
is  the  highest  style  of  man."  He  must  be  a  scholar, 
for  how  can  he  teach  what  he  does  not  know?  He 
must  be  apt  to  teach,  for  teaching,  not  discovery  or 
original  research,  is  the  business  of  the  college  pro- 
fessor. It  is  well  that  he  should  be  a  discoverer, 
with  a  mind  open  to  receive  the  truth,  all  truths 
whether  new  or  old,  although  the  man  who  knows 


214         A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

the  most,  and  has  made  the  greatest  discoveries,  is 
not  always  the  best  teacher.  But  first  of  all,  and 
above  all,  he  must  be  a  man,  and  full  of  a  noble  am- 
bition to  make  others  men,  for  to  make  men  is  the 
chief  end  of  a  college  education.  Or  if,  as  the  old 
Greek  philosopher  said  of  his  countryman,  the  candi- 
date is  not  yet  a  full-grown  man,  he  must  give  prom- 
ise of  becoming  such,  and  of  being  able,  by  precept 
and  example,  to  make  others  such  as  he  himself 
aspires  and  promises  to  be.  Hence  President  Seelye 
sought  his  professors  chiefly  not  among  those  who 
had  done  their  work  and  won  their  reputation  in 
other  institutions,  but  among  the  graduates  of  Am- 
herst,  whom  he  personally  knew  and  upon  whom  he 
had  placed  his  own  shaping  hand,  and  let  them  grow 
under  his  own  eye  and  influence  from  instructors  to 
assistant  professors,  and  from  assistants  to  associates 
and  heads  of  departments.  Accordingly  there  was 
a  time  in  his  administration  when  the  writer  of  this 
history  could  speak  of  all  the  faculty  as  having  been 
his  pupils,  and  the  president  could  have  said  to  his 
ablest  professors,  as  the  aged  Phoenix  did  to  the  hero 
of  the  Iliad: 

"Great  as  them  art,  my  lessons  made  thee  brave. 
A  child  I  took  thee,  but  a  hero  gave." 

By  taking  its  teachers,  for  the  most  part,  from  the 
ranks  of  its  own  graduates,  and  paying,  as  a  rule  and 
a  principle,  the  same  salary  to  all  regular  professors 
after  due  trial  and  full  approval,  Amherst  has  escaped 
envyings  and  jealousies,  divisions  and  contentions 
in  the  faculty,  and  secured  a  substantial  unity,  a 
fraternal  sympathy,  a  hearty  cooperation,  and  a  stead- 
fast adherence  to  the  ideals  of  the  college,  which 


A    HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.          21$ 

have  contributed  not  a  little  to  its  peace  and  pros- 
perity. 

Elihu  Root,  professor  of  mathematics  and  natural 
philosophy;  Anson  D.  Morse,  professor  of  history; 
Henry  B.  Richardson,  professor  of  German ;  John 
M.  Tyler,  professor  of  biology;.  Charles  E.  Garman, 
professor  of  mental  and  moral  philosophy ;  David  P. 
Todd,  professor  of  astronomy;  John  F.  Genung,  pro- 
fessor of  rhetoric ;  Henry  A.  Frink,  professor  of  ora- 
tory ;  William  L.  Cowles,  professor  of  Latin — all  these 
were  inaugurated  in  their  professorships  under  the 
administration  and  on  the  recommendation  of  Presi- 
dent Seelye.  All  but  two  of  them  are  graduates  of 
Amherst.  Only  one  of  them  had  been  a  professor  in 
another  college.  All  but  one  were  men  who,  after 
having  pursued  studies  preliminary  to  their  pro- 
fessorships at  home  and  abroad,  began  their  teach- 
ing in  Amherst,  gained  their  experience  and  their 
reputation  in  Amherst,  have  been  identified  with 
Amherst  in  their  own  education  and  their  education 
of  others.  All  superior  scholars,  all  consistent  and 
devoted  Christians,  all  students,  workers,  teachers, 
educators  making  a  business  of  teaching  and  magni- 
fying education  as  the  highest  calling,  some  of  them 
known  also  as  authors  of  text- books,  writers  for  the 
magazines,  and  lecturers  in  the  cause  of  university 
extension,  they  have  all  been  a  success,  an  honor  to 
the  college  and  an  ornament  to  their  profession. 

President  Seelye  himself  continued  to  teach  for 
some  years  after  his  elevation  to  the  presidency,  in 
the  department  of  intellectual  and  moral  philosophy 
which  he  had  so  adorned  as  a  professor.  Finding 
his  labors  too  exhausting,  and  seeing  in  Mr.  Garman 
15 


2l6         A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

a  philosopher  of  his  own  school  and  a  teacher  after 
his  own  heart,  he  at  first  divided  the  work  of  teach- 
ing the  senior  class  equally  with  him,  and  ere  long 
resigned  it  entirely  into  his  hands.  And  he  has  been 
heard  to  say  that,  by  introducing  the  spiritual  phil- 
osophy into  the  college,  and  leaving  the  department 
in  the  hands  of  such  a  teacher,  he  has  conferred  a 
greater  benefit  on  the  institution  than  all  his  other 
services.  And  Prof.  W.  B.  Smith,  of  Union  Theo- 
logical Seminar}7,  gave  the  sanction  of  his  great  name 
to  this  high  estimate  of  the  value  of  this  department 
as  it  exists  in  Amherst  College. 

President  Seelye  has  always  insisted  that  the 
strength  of  a  college  lies,  not  in  magnificent  build- 
ings, elegant  grounds,  large  endowments,  or  a  large 
number  of  students,  but  in  the  high  character  and 
able  and  faithful  work  of  its  faculty.  Hence  his 
great  care  in  the  choice  of  professors,  the  weighty 
responsibility  which  he  devolved  on  every  teacher 
for  the  good  order  and  high  scholarship  of  his  classes, 
and  the  kind  sympathy  and  cordial  support  which  he 
gave  to  every  teacher  in  the  faithful  discharge  of  his 
duties.  And  the  whole  faculty  in  return,  the  older 
members  as  well  as  the  younger  men,  were  united 
as  one  man  in  love  and  loyalty  to  their  president, 
sustained  him  in  harmonious  and  happy  faculty 
meetings,  and  stood  by  him,  shoulder  to  shoulder,  in 
the  execution  of  measures  which  he  perhaps  had 
originated  and  they  had  approved. 

Three  professors  of  sterling  worth  died  in  office 
during  the  presidency  of  Dr.  Seelye — Ebenezer 
Strong  Snell,  Elihu  Root,  and  Richard  Henry 
Mather. 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.          217 

Professor  Snell  was  altogether  a  unique  personage 
in  the  history  of  Amherst  College,  and  deserves  a 
fuller  portraiture  than  can  be  given  in  this  history. 
We  can  only  refer  those  who  wish  for  an  outline  sketch 
of  his  life  and  character  to  our  original  work.  Here 
it  must  suffice  to  say  that  he  was  born  in  North 
Brookfield,  Mass.,  October  17,  1801,  and  died  Sep- 
tember 1 8,  1876,  and  was  therefore  a  little  short  of 
seventy-five  at  the  time  of  his  death ;  that  he  was  the 
first  student  that  was  admitted  and  among  the  first 
that  were  graduated  at  the  college,  and  the  first  tutor 
and  the  first  professor  among  the  alumni,  and  gave 
it  more  than  fifty  years  of  study  and  labor  and  care 
and  painstaking,  of  the  ablest  instructions  and  the 
best  services  that  have  ever  been  given  to  Amherst 
or  any  other  college;  that,  as  professor  of  mathema- 
tics and  natural  philosophy,  for  exactness,  clearness, 
and  method  in  teaching,  and  skill  as  an  experimental 
lecturer,  he  cannot  be  surpassed;  that,  by  his  own 
mechanical  ingenuity  and  handicraft  and  his  pro- 
gressive mastery  of  the  science,  with  a  comparatively 
trifling  expenditure  of  money  by  the  college,  he  kept 
his  cabinet  abreast  of  the  most  costly  apparatus  of 
the  richest  colleges  in  the  land,  while,  at  the  same 
time,  he  invented  and  constructed  not  a  few  machines 
illustrative  of  mechanics  and  physics  which  were  not 
then  to  be  found  in  any  of  them ;  that  a  vein  of  quiet 
humor  and  a  felicitous  turn  of  expression  conspired 
with  his  modesty,  simplicity,  and  kindness  to  make 
him  one  of  the  most  genial  of  companions  and  col- 
leagues, as  well  as  one  of  the  most  admired  and  be- 
loved of  teachers,  while  his  pupils  felt  the  constant 
presence  and  power  of  something  better  than  any 


2l8          A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

teaching,  lecturing,  or  preaching  in  his  true,  pure, 
and  exemplary  Christian  life. 

Elihu  Root,  who  succeeded  Professor  Snell  in  the 
professorship  of  mathematics  and  natural  philosophy, 
was  born  in  Belchertown,  September  14,  1845,  and 
died  in  his  native  place,  December  3,  1880.  He  was 
only  thirty-five  at  the  time  of  his  death,  and  had  been 
only  four  years  professor  of  mathematics  and  natural 
philosophy ;  and  one  of  these  years  he  was  only  as- 
sistant professor.  But  he  had  distinguished  himself 
before  his  appointment  by  his  high  rank  as  a  scholar 
in  Williston  Seminary,  by  winning  several  prizes  in 
college  and  delivering  the  valedictory  oration  at  his 
graduation,  by  his  success  as  a  teacher  at  Williston, 
and  as  an  instructor  at  Amherst,  by  five  years  of 
successful  study  of  philosophy  and  physics  at  Gottin- 
gen,  Leipsic,  and  Berlin  in  Germany,  and  not  least 
perhaps  by  his  able  thesis  on  dielectric  polarization 
when  he  received  the  degree  of  Ph.D.  at  Berlin. 
And  it  is  not  easy  to  say  whether  he  was  more  ad- 
mired in  college  for  his  profound  knowledge  of 
physics  and  mathematics,  or  more  beloved  for  his 
pure,  beautiful,  and  noble  character  and  life.  But, 
alas,  his  bodily  health  and  strength  were  not  equal 
to  his  aspirations,  and  exertions  and,  like  a  flower 
nipped  in  the  bud,  he  was  cut  down  in  the  very  begin- 
ning of  his  life-work. 

"Oh,  what  a  noble  heart  was  here  undone, 
When  Science's  self  destroyed  her  favorite  son  ! 
Yes,  she  too  much  indulged  thy  fond  pursuit ; 
She  sowed  the  seeds,  but  Death  has  reaped  the  fruit." 

Professor  Root  was  succeeded  by  Dr.  Marshall 
Henshaw,  not,  however,  with  the  title  of  professor 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.          2 19 

of  mathematics  and  natural  philosophy,  but  only  as 
lecturer  in  that  department.  He  was  graduated  at 
Amherst  with  high  honor  in  the  same  class  with 
Prof.  Francis  A.  March,  the  class  of  1845.  He  had 
been  a  successful  and  highly  honored  professor  of 
mathematics  and  natural  philosophy  in  Rutgers  Col- 
lege under  President  Frelinghuysen.  He  had  been 
the  principal  of  Williston  Seminary  fourteen  years, 
teaching  the  senior  class  on  the  classical  side  in  Latin 
and  Greek,  and  lecturing  to  the  seniors  on  the  Eng- 
lish side  in  physics  with  singular  ability  and  success, 
and  raising  the  seminary  to  a  height  of  prosperity 
and  renown  which  it  has  never  before  or  since 
reached.  In  his  annual  report  to  the  trustees  in 
1883,  after  Dr.  Henshaw  had,  by  the  experience  of 
two  years,  proved  his  rare  ability  and  skill  both  as  a 
teacher  and  a  lecturer,  President  Seelye  recommended 
that  he  should  be  appointed  professor  of  natural  phi- 
losophy, saying,  "  He  has  all  of  Professor  Snell's 
remarkable  skill  and  ease  in  the  handling  of  his  ap- 
paratus in  the  lecture  room,  and  a  more  extensive 
knowledge  of  the  latest  developments  of  the  science 
of  physics  than  Professor  Snell  in  his  later  life  was 
able  to  maintain;  and  while  he  does  not  equal  Pro- 
fessor Root,  as  very  few  do,  in  the  highest  attain- 
ments of  science,  he 'exceeds  him  in  clearness  and 
interest  and  force  as  a  lecturer."  But  the  trustees 
did  not  make  the  appointment,  the  professorship  of 
natural  philosophy  was  not  filled  during  President 
Seelye's  administration,  and  Dr.1  Henshaw  contin- 

1  Dr.  Henshaw  received  the  degree  of  Ph.D.  from  the  Uni- 
versity of  New  York  in  1863,  and  that  of  D.D.  from  Amherst 
in  1872. 


220         A   HISTORY    OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

ued  to  do  the  work  of  a  professor  under  the  title  of 
lecturer  till,  in  1890,  increasing  bodily  infirmities  led 
him  to  resign. 

Richard  Henry  Mather  was  born  in  Binghamton, 
N.  Y.,  February  12,  1835.  The  blood  of  some  of  the 
best  families  of  New  England — the  Mathers,  the 
Masons,  the  Whitings,  the  Edwardses — flowed  in  his 
veins.  He  was  graduated  with  highest  honors  both 
at  Williston  Seminary  and  at  Amherst  College,  de- 
livering the  salutatory  oration  at  the  former  and  the 
valedictory  at  the  latter  at  his  graduation.  To  the 
discipline  of  the  preparatory  school  and  the  college, 
he  added  the  culture  derived  from  repeated  travel 
and  study  in  foreign  lands — study  in  Germany  and 
Athens,  travel  at  different  times  in  Italy,  Greece, 
Egypt,  and  Palestine.  An  accomplished  scholar,  an 
inspiring  teacher,  an  eloquent  preacher,  a  skilful 
man  of  affairs,  a  delightful  companion,  neighbor, 
and  friend,  with  a  personality  that  charmed  all  who 
knew  him  or  met  him,  and  made  them  his  friends  and 
the  friends  of  the  college,  he  loved  Amherst  more  than 
he  loved  himself,  gave  it  thirty-one  years  of  able, 
faithful,  and  devoted  service,  subordinated  to  it  all  his 
personal  ends,  consecrated  to  it  all  his  gifts,  graces, 
and  attainments,  procured  for  it  donations,  endow- 
ments, and  educational  appliances.  The  Mather  Art 
Collection  was  his  gift  as  well  as  his  monument.  He 
raised  all  the  money  and  made  all  the  purchases  for 
the  singularly  rich  and  choice  selection.  The  rare 
architectural  perfection  of  the  new  library  building 
was  largely  due  to  his  excellent  taste,  sound  judg- 
ment, and  remarkable  business  efficiency  in  superin- 
tending the  enlargement.  The  John  R.  Newton 


OF  THE 

[UNIVERSITY, 
.CALIFORNIA- 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST    COLLEGE.          221 

professorship  of  Greek  was  the  gift  of  one  whom  he 
had  attached  to  himself  and  to  the  college  by  his 
preaching  and  his  personal  attractions.  But  his  most 
precious  and  enduring  memorial  was  in  the  minds, 
and  hearts,  and  life,  and  character  of  his  numerous 
pupils.  He  taught  them  not  merely  the  language, 
archaeology,  and  art  of  the  Greeks,  not  merel)r  their 
poetry,  and  history,  and  philosophy,  but  their  litera- 
ture, and  life,  and  morals,  and  religion.  Nay,  every 
lecture  and  recitation  was  a  lesson  in  "  the  humani- 
ties," in  human  nature  and  human  life,  in  the  art  of 
living,  and  living  well.  Hence  he  was  a  power  in 
the  government  of  the  college,  as  well  as  in  its  edu- 
cation. President  Seelye  loved  him  and  leaned  upon 
him,  and  it  was  a  sad  hour  and  a  sore  trial  to  the 
good  president  when,  on  returning  from  a  voyage  to 
Europe  for  his  own  health,  his  first  news  was  the 
death  of  his  friend  and  brother,  and  his  first  public 
service  was  in  officiating  at  his  funeral.  It  was  an 
irreparable  loss  to  the  college,  a  profound  grief  to 
troops  of  friends,  and  a  sore  disappointment  to  him- 
self. He  had  spent  the  previous  year  in  travel  and 
study,  partly  in  Germany,  but  chiefly  in  Greece  and 
the  island  of  Sicily,  amid  the  monuments  of  Grecian 
architecture  and  sculpture  and  the  scenes  of  Grecian 
life,  and  returned  enriched  with  new  materials  for 
his  work,  inspired  with  new  enthusiasm  for  his  call- 
ing, fondly  hoping,  fully  expecting  to  begin  a  new 
epoch,  and  that  the  most  fruitful  and  brilliant  in  his 
life.  Alas,  he  came  back  to  suffer  in  a  prolonged  and 
painful  sickness,  to  die  a  lingering  and  living  death. 
But  in  that  sickness  and  death  he  taught  us  lessons  of 
resignation,  fortitude,  patience,  and  faith  more  im- 


222         A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

pressive  and  more  sacred  than  he  could  have  taught 
in  all  the  lectures  and  sermons  of  a  long  life. 

We  cannot  conclude  these  sketches  of  the  Amherst 
faculty  under  the  administration  of  President  Seelye 
without  alluding  to  the  somewhat  tragical  but  truly 
heroic  element  which  Professor  Crowell  has  con- 
tributed to  our  history  in  his  blindness.  A  distin- 
guished graduate  of  Phillips  Academ}%  Andover,  in 
1849,  and  of  Amherst  College  in  1853;  teacher  of 
Latin  and  Greek  in  Williston  Seminary  from  1853  to 
1855  ;  tutor  in  Amherst  College  in  1855-1856 ;  student 
of  theology  at  Andover  in  1856  to  1858;  professor  of 
Latin  and  instructor  in  German  at  Amherst  from  1858 
to  1864,  professor  of  the  Latin  language  and  literature 
from  1864  to  the  present  time,  and  dean  of  the  faculty 
since  1880,  he  has  given  to  the  college  more  years  of 
able,  faithful,  and  acceptable  service  than  any  other 
professor,  except  Professors  Snell  and  Tyler,  and  his 
name  now  stands,  next  to  that  of  the  president,  at 
the  head  of  all  the  active  members  of  the  faculty. 
Meanwhile  he  has  been  representative  in  the  Massa- 
chusetts legislature  one  year,  and  for  very  many 
years  the  compiler  of  the  triennial  catalogue  and 
the  obituary  records  of  the  college.  He  prepared  also 
the  "  Roll  of  Members  of  Amherst  College  serving  in 
the  Army  and  Navy  of  the  United  States  during  the 
Rebellion,"  wrote  the  "History  of  the  Town  of  Es- 
sex," and  edited  school  editions  of  "Cicero  de  Sen- 
ectuteet  Amicitia,"  "  Cicero  de  Officiis,"  "Cicero  de 
Oratore,"  the  "  Andria  and  Adelphi  of  Terence,"  and 
"Selections  from  the  Latin  Poets."  In  1885  Pro- 
fessor Crowell,  after  prolonged  and  acute  suffering, 
lost  the  sight  of  both  his  eyes.  Yet  he  has  not  only 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  223 

continued  his  instructions  with  unabated  ability  and 
success,  but  is  now  preparing  new  and  improved 
editions  of  his  classical  text-books  which  give  no 
evidence  of  impaired  vision,  enters  new  fields  of 
study  and  teaching  such  as  law  and  patristic  Latin, 
keeps  himself  and  his  department  fully  abreast  of 
the  learning  and  spirit  of  the  times,  and,  what  is 
perhaps  most  wonderful  of  all,  maintains  his  cheer- 
fulness, humor,  and  buoyancy  of  spirits,  and  mingles 
in  society  and  walks  the  streets,  guided,  of  course, 
by  the  same  eye  and  hand  of  wife,  or  daughter,  or 
colleague,  which  have  helped  him  in  his  literary 
labors,  with  an  erect  attitude  and  a  quick  and  firm 
step  which  suggest  to  a  stranger  no  thought  that  he 
is  bereft  of  sight.  Well  might  the  trustees,  at  their 
annual  meeting  in  1886,  express  to  Professor  Crowell 
by  vote,  and  put  it  on  record  in  their  minutes,  "  their 
gratification  that  he  has  been  able  to  resume  and 
carry  forward  so  successfully  through  the  year  the 
duties  of  his  department,"  a  resolution  which  has  been 
more  than  justified  every  year  of  the  seven  years  that 
have  since  intervened. 

The  college  is  indebted  to  President  Seelye  for  the 
selection  and  appointment  of  a  model  librarian  in 
the  person  of  Mr.  William  I.  Fletcher,  who  is  perfect 
master  of  his  art  and  profession,  and  knows  how  to 
teach  it  both  by  precept  and  example,  who  has  ren- 
dered a  service  of  inestimable  value  to  all  libraries 
and  all  colleges  by  preparing  and  printing  an  index 
of  general  literature  corresponding  to  Poole's  index 
of  periodicals,  who  has  made  himself  useful  and  agree- 
able not  only  to  his  own  guild  and  college,  but  to  the 
college  church,  the  town  of  Amherst,  and  the  cause 


224         A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

of  education  and  religion  generally,  and  yet  seems  to 
be  always  at  his  desk,  always  at  the  service  of  every 
officer  and  every  student,  and  always  able  and  will- 
ing to  assist  every  reader,  so  far  as  it  can  be  done  by 
books,  in  his  investigations. 


€:V°ERSITY) 
OF  y 


CHAPTER  XI. 

THE  BURNING  OF  WALKER  HALL THE  BUILDINGS  ERECTED 

DURING     THE     ADMINISTRATION THE    "  AMHERST 

SYSTEM" — AMHERST  COLLEGE  REACHES  ITS  HIGHEST 
PROSPERITY RESIGNATION  OF  PRESIDENT  SEELYE. 

WHILE  the  character  and  work  of  the  faculty  was 
foremost  and  uppermost  in  the  thought  and  care 
of  President  Seelye,  he  was  not  inattentive  to  the 
buildings,  the  grounds,  the  funds,  the  campus,  the 
curriculum,  the  scholarship  and  deportment  of 
the  students,  the  general  administration  of  the  col- 
lege. The  first  necessity  for  special  attention  to  the 
buildings  was  occasioned  by  a  great  calamity  which 
befell  the  college.  The  fact  is  thus  recorded  by  Rev. 
Dr.  Dwight,  secretary  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  on 
the  first  page  of  the  second  volume  of  their  records : 
"  On  the  night  of  the  29th  of  March,  1882,  fire  broke 
out  in  Walker  Hall,  the  most  costly  and  beautiful 
edifice  of  Amherst  College ;  and  all  its  very  valuable 
contents  were  destroyed,  with  the  exception  of  such 
as  were  secured  in  its  vault.  Among  other  articles 
that  were  lost  was  the  second  volume  of  the  records 
of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  containing  the  minutes  of 
their  meetings  from  the  Commencement  of  1868  to 
the  Commencement  of  1881.  Of  these  minutes  all 
that  are  now  extant  are  a  few  scattered  portions  of 
the  original  drafts,  accidentally  saved  by  the  secre- 

225 


226         A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

tary,  which,  fragmentary  as  they  are,  it  has  been 
thought  advisable  to  preserve." 

On  a  subsequent  page  the  secretary  says :  "  Of  the 
meetings  of  the  board  in  the  years  1876-77-78  no 
"record  remains. "  Of  the  meetings  of  the  board  in  the 
other  years  recorded  in  the  book  that  was  burned, 
the  diligence  and  skill  of  the  secretary  have  given  us 
a  record  which,  like  other  records  from  his  hand,  is 
a  model  of  accuracy  and  elegance,  and  which,  frag- 
mentary as  it  appeared  to  him,  seemed  to  us  to  be 
very  complete. 

Would  that  some  superhuman  wisdom  and  power 
might  have  restored  to  us  with  equal  completeness 
the  other  treasures  that  were  destroyed  by  the  fire! 
But  alas,  outside  of  the  safe  nothing  was  preserved. 
Not  a  person  could  enter  the  burning  building.  From 
the  moment  when  the  fire  was  discovered,  probably 
almost  from  the  moment  the  building  took  fire,  the 
interior  from  roof  to  basement  was  wrapped  in  one 
universal  sheet  of  flame.  The  mathematical  diagrams 
of  Professor  Esty,  the  astronomical  calculations  of 
Professor  Todd — the  work  of  years, — the  official 
papers  and  private  studies  of  President  Seelye,  the 
apparatus  of  Professor  Snell,  much  of  it  the  invention 
of  his  own  brain  and  the  work  of  his  own  hand,  all 
went  up  in  flame  and  smoke.  The  minerals  of  Pro- 
fessor Shepard — a  collection  of  gems,  a  cabinet  of 
singular  beauty  and  priceless  worth — even  these  min- 
erals, strange  to  tell,  were  reduced  to  ashes ;  scarcely 
a  trace  of  them  could  be  found  in  the  debris  after 
long  and  diligent  search.  It  was  vacation.  The 
faculty  were  mostly  out  of  town.  The  writer  of  this 
history  was  in  Plainfield,  N.  J.  He  read  the  news 


A   HISTORY    OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.         22/ 

in  the  morning  paper,  and,  for  a  time,  it  seemed 
almost  as  if  Amherst  College  itself  had  gone  up. 
Walker  Hall  had  cost  as  much  as  all  the  other  build- 
ings put  together.  President  Seelye  was  in  Bethel, 
Conn.  He  was  at  first  almost  overwhelmed  by  the 
intelligence.  The  calamity  was  the  harder  to  bear, 
because  the  property  was  insured  for  less  than  half 
its  value — the  building  for  only  $35,000,  when  it  cost 
$TOO,OOO;  the  contents  for  only  $15,000,  though  Pro- 
fessor Shepard  valued  his  collection  alone  at  $75,000, 
and  the  college  had  actually  paid  $40,000  for  it.  It 
cost  $10, ooo  to  replace  Professor  Snell's  apparatus, 
though  much  of  it  could  not  be  replaced  in  the  esti- 
mation of  the  professor  and  the  college.  Still  in  one 
week  the  president  had  procured  from  a  single  friend 
of  the  college  a  subscription,  which,  together  with 
the  $50,000  insurance,  enabled  him  to  restore  the 
building.  At  a  special  meeting  of  the  Board  of 
Trustees  held  in  Boston,  May  2,  1882,  it  was  voted 
that  Walker  Hall  be  rebuilt  at  the  earliest  date  prac- 
ticable, and  that  the  president,  the  treasurer,  Pro- 
fessor Mather,  and  Mr.  A.  L.  Williston  be  the  build- 
ing committee.  The  two  lower  stories  were  rebuilt 
substantially  on  the  same  plan,  and  devoted  to  the 
same  uses  as  before.  The  mineralogical  collection, 
which  before  occupied  the  third  story,  having  been 
so  largely  destroyed,  and  there  being  an  urgent 
necessity  for  more  recitation  rooms,  that  story  was 
chiefly  devoted  to  that  purpose,  and  was  reconstructed 
on  an  entirely  different  plan  and  in  a  different  style 
of  architecture.  The  whole  edifice  was  rebuilt  in 
accordance  with  the  vote  of  the  trustees,  "at  the 
earliest  date  practicable,"  but  with  more  solid  ma- 


228         A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

terials  and  more  perfect  finish  than  that  which  pre- 
ceded it,  and  as  nearly  fire-proof  as  possible,  seem- 
ingly regardless  of  cost,  but  with  supreme  regard  at 
once  to  permanence  and  elegance.  And  before  an- 
other year  came  round,  Walker  Hall  stood  again  on 
its  old  site,  more  than  ever  the  archives,  the  treasury, 
the  capitol,  the  acropolis  of  Amherst  College.  Be- 
sides the  lesson  of  trust  in  God  in  the  darkest  hour 
which  the  history  of  this  calamity  teaches  us,  it 
should  have  taught  us,  we  trust  it  has  taught  us,  two 
lessons  of  worldly  wisdom:  i.  To  beware  of,  or  at 
any  rate  handle  with  more  care,  those  inflammable 
materials  which  are  so  often  used  to  paint  and  varnish 
floors,  and  which  are  generally  believed  to  have  been 
the  cause  of  this  fire.  2.  College  buildings,  build- 
ings generally  which  are  built  with  charity  funds, 
should  always  be  insured  for  their  real  value.1 

On  the  1 2th  of  March,  1888,  six  years  after  the 
burning  of  Walker  Hall,  on  the  night  of  the  famous 
blizzard,  fire  broke  out  in  the  block  down  town  in 
which  Mr.  Edward  Dickinson  had  his  office  through 
all  the  years  in  which  he  was  treasurer  of  Amherst  Col- 
lege, and  which  was  at  this  time  occupied  by  his  son 
and  successor  in  the  office,  Mr.  W.  A.  Dickinson,  and 
destroyed  all  his  books  and  papers,  except  the  con- 
tents of  two  safes.  These  books,  pamphlets,  and 
papers  were  rich  in  materials  for  the  history  both  of 
the  town  and  the  college,  and  Mr.  Dickinson  was  at 
this  very  time  engaged  in  classifying  and  arranging 
them  in  due  order  to  be  preserved  for  the  use  of  the 

1  At  the  same  special  meeting  in  which  they  voted  to  rebuild 
Walker  Hall,  the  trustees  of  Amherst  voted  that  the  insurance 
on  the  college  buildings  be  increased  to  $300,000. 


UNIVERSITY] 


A   HISTORY    OF   AMHERST    COLLEGE.         22Q 

future  historian.  The  college  suffered  no  pecuniary 
loss  by  their  destruction,  for  papers  of  pecuniary 
value  were  in  the  safe.  But  as  materials  for  history 
this  collection  probably  surpassed  in  value  any  other 
in  the  town,  and  the  town  and  college  sympathized 
with  Mr.  Dickinson  deeply  in  the  loss.  The  college, 
however,  has  this  compensation:  The  destruction 
of  the  office  down  town  necessitated  the  removal  of 
the  treasurer's  office  to  Walker  Hall,  where  it  is  near 
the  office  of  the  president  and  the  room  in  which  the 
trustees  and  the  faculty  hold  their  meetings,  and 
where  it  is  convenient  of  access  to  all  the  members 
of  the  college. 

At  the  same  special  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Trus- 
tees at  which  it  was  voted  to  rebuild  Walker  Hall  it 
was  also  voted  to  proceed  with  the  enlargement  of 
the  library  building;  the  same  gentlemen  were  ap- 
pointed the  building  committee,  the  two  buildings 
were  in  process  of  construction  pari passu  at  the  same 
time  and  were  completed  in  the  course  of  the  same 
year,  and  it  may  be  doubted  which  of  the  two  is  the 
more  remarkable  for  architectural  beauty  and  adapta- 
tion to  the  use  for  which  it  was  intended.  The  en- 
largement of  the  library  building,  or  the  erection  of 
a  new  one,  had  become  a  necessity.  Not  only  were 
the  shelves  of  the  old  building  already  full,  but  stacks 
of  books  encumbered  and  filled  the  floor  which  was 
intended  for  a  reading-room.  It  was  doubtless  easier 
to  plan  for  an  entirely  new  building.  But  that  would 
cost  more  money,  and  would  leave  the  old  building, 
which  had  many  conveniences  and  attractive  associa- 
tions, useless  and  forsaken.  And  thanks  to  the  wis- 
dom of  the  building  committee  and  the  skill  of  the 


230         A    HISTORY    OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

architect,  Mr.  Francis  R.  Allen,  who  is  a  graduate 
of  the  college,  a  plan  was  conceived  which  utilized 
the  old  building,  provided  amply  for  present  and 
future  enlargement,  presented  an  exterior  of  great 
architectural  beauty  and  symmetry,  and  furnished 
one  of  the  best,  most  convenient,  and  most  useful 
library  biiildings  that  can  be  found  in  this  or  any 
other  country.  The  first  story  of  the  old  edifice  was 
retained  for  the  working-rooms  of  the  librarian  and 
his  assistants ;  the  second  story  and  main  body  of  it 
was  given  up  entirely  to  the  reading  and  consulting 
room,  with  tables  and  chairs  for  readers  and  writers 
occupying  the  floor,  and  shelves  on  the  walls  for  a 
working  library,  and  books  illustrative  of  the  several 
departments  of  instruction  and  the  daily  studies  of 
the  students,  while  the  general  library  and  the  mass 
of  the  books  was  provided  for  by  the  addition  in  the 
rear  of  a  crystal  palace  containing  seven  stories  of 
fire-proof  stacks  of  shelves  in  which  every  book  is 
within  reach  of  a  person  standing  on  the  floor,  and 
tables  and  chairs  are  furnished  in  every  story  for  the 
convenience  of  readers  and  writers.  Finally,  to  give 
architectural  unity  and  beauty  to  the  whole  structure, 
a  vestibule  or  portico  is  prefixed  which  constitutes 
the  entrance  to  the  building,  contains  an  ornamental 
stairway  to  the  upper  stories,  and  is  itself  adorned 
in  the  loweA  story  by  the  Nineveh  sculptures  let  into 
the  walls.  The  students  are  allowed  free  access  not 
only  to  the  reading-room,  but,  with  the  permission 
and  under  the  guidance  of  the  librarian  and  his  as- 
sistant, they  are  admitted  to  the  free  use  of  the  gen- 
eral library  for  the  pursuit  of  special  studies;  and 
they  do  not  abuse  the  privilege.  Perhaps  there  is 


UNIVERSITY) 


A    HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.          231 

no  one  thing  in  which  the  growth  and  progress  of 
the  college  is  more  strikingly  manifest  than  in  the 
extent  to  which  faculty  and  students,  with  the  help 
of  our  accomplished  librarian,  use  the  college  library, 
and  make  it  useful  in  the  work  of  education.  And 
it  is  pleasant  to  be  able  to  add  that,  while  the  library 
is  so  much  more  used  and  useful  than  it  was  in  the 
earlier  years  of  our  college  history,  the  friends  of  the 
college  are  endowing  it  with  more  ample  means  of 
usefulness.  Among  other  gifts,  too  numerous  to 
mention,  the  following  deserve  especial  notice:  A 
gift  of  $5,000  made  by  David  Sears  of  Boston  in  1864 
toward  the  erection  of  a  new  or  the  enlargement  of 
the  old  library  building,  which,  by  the  accumulation 
of  interest  and  the  addition  of  other  contributions, 
had  grown  in  1881  to  $25,000;  the  bequest  of  $5,000 
by  Dr.  Ebenezer  Alden  of  Randolph,  who  from  1841 
to  1874  was  a  wise  and  faithful  trustee  of  the  college 
and  watched  the  library  with  ceaseless  vigilance, 
and  bequeathed  this  sum  expressly  toward  its  proper 
care  and  administration;  the  bequest  of  $50,000  by 
Joel  Giles  of  Boston  as  a  permanent  fund  for  the  in- 
crease of  the  library ;  and  the  munificent  legacy  of 
over  $80,000  by  Henry  T.  Morgan,  which,  with  a  wis- 
dom as  remarkable  as  his  liberality,  he  gave  without 
limitation  to  be  expended  at  the  discretion  of  the 
trustees,  and  which  could  in  no  other  way  be  so 
suitably  commemorated  as  by  giving  his  name  to  the 
library  building. 

The  first  action  in  regard  to  a  new  gymnasium  was 

taken  in  the  same  fruitful  and  happy  special  meeting 

of  the  trustees  in  Boston  in  May,  1882,  in  which  the 

rebuilding  of  Walker  Hall  and  the  enlargement  of 

16 


232          A    HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

the  library  building  had  their  origin.  At  this  meet- 
ing it  was  voted  that  "the  library  building  commit- 
tee, together  with  Dr.  Hitchcock  and  Mr.  Charles 
M.  Pratt,  be  a  committee  to  select  plans  and  recom- 
mend measures  for  the  erection  of  a  new  gymnasium, 
and  to  report  at  Commencement. "  And  at  the  annual 
meeting  at  Commencement,  it  was  voted  "  that  the 
committee  heretofore  appointed  to  superintend  the 
construction  of  a  new  gymnasium  be  empowered  to 
go  forward  with  its  erection,  it  being  understood 
that  the  expense  of  its  erection  will  be  defrayed  by 
Mr.  Charles  M.  Pratt,  of  Brooklyn,  and  that  the  edi- 
fice, when  built,  be  known  as  the  Pratt  Gymnasium." 
So  many  difficulties  and  delays,  however,  arose  in 
regard  to  the  site,  the  grading,  the  construction,  and 
the  heating  of  the  building,  that  it  was  not  finished 
until  the  autumn  of  1884.  But  when  it  was  finished 
and  furnished,  it  was  admired  as  one  of  the  most 
perfect  buildings  of  its  kind  and  for  its  purpose  that 
can  anywhere  be  found,  and  it  has  been  used  with 
great  satisfaction  not  only  as  the  headquarters  of  the 
department  of  gymnastics  and  hygiene  where  Dr. 
Hitchcock  reigns  supreme,  but  as  the  trys  ting-pi  ace 
where  the  trustees,  faculty,  alumni,  and  guests  and 
friends  of  the  college  gather  from  year  to  year  for 
their  Commencement  dinners;  and  what  will  perhaps 
be  still  more  fresh  in  the  memory  of  some  of  the 
alumni,  the  place  where,  as  under-graduates,  they 
met  the  under-graduates  of  Smith  and  Mount  Hoi- 
yoke  in  their  so-called  promenades. 

The  history  of  the  building  enterprises  of  President 
Seelye's  administration  would  be  incomplete  without 
some  allusion  to  two  or  three  others  which  he  recom- 


«j"^  ^-^'^l^rlS^^r^^P 
•-^'^•-^m^''^-'^. 

"          ^\-^<     .%•  " 

THE   CHEMICAL   AND    PHYSICAL   LABORATORY    BUILDING, 


Irwr^W--' 
<rj*J$^  ^;^ 


A   HISTORY    OF   AMHERST    COLLEGE.  233 

mended  again  and  again  to  the  action  or  the  considera- 
tion of  the  trustees,  but  was  unable  to  carry  into  execu- 
tion, e.g.,  the  addition  of  a  biological  laboratory  and 
a  larger  lecture  room  to  the  Appleton  cabinet,  which 
he  recommended  in  1886  and  again  in  1887,  but  which 
was  not  completed  till  1891  under  the  administration 
of  his  successor;  the  reconstruction  of  the  Barrett 
Gymnasium,  and  its  adaptation  for  a  mineralogical 
cabinet,  which  he  urged  year  after  year,  but  which  re- 
mains still  unaccomplished;  and  the  erection  of  anew 
chemical  laboratory  commensurate  with  the  growth  of 
the  college  and  the  wants  of  the  department,  to  which 
he  adverts  over  and  over  again  as  an  imperative  neces- 
sity, but  which  waited  the  Fayerweather  bequest  for 
pecuniary  means  and  the  energy  of  President  Gates 
for  its  accomplishment.  This  generous  bequest, 
from  which  the  college  has  received  $70,000,  and 
would  have  received  more  if  the  intentions  of  the 
testator  had  been  faithfully  executed,  has  enabled 
the  trustees  to  erect  a  magnificent  scientific  building, 
or  rather  two  buildings,  the  one  for  chemistry  and 
the  other  for  physics,  which  together  with  the  en- 
largement of  the  scientific  .apparatus,  the  increase  of 
the  teaching  forces,  and  the  changes  in  the  curriculum 
and  in  the  requirements  for  admission  in  these  depart- 
ments, and  perhaps  also  the  renovation  of  North  and 
South  Colleges,  have  brought  in  a  larger  number  of 
students  than  the  college  has  ever  had  before.  But 
these  things  do  not  come  within  the  scope  of  the 
present  history. 

Gifts  and  bequests  to  the  college  were  numerous 
and  generous  under  President  Seelye's  administra- 
tion— more  numerous  and  generous  some  years  than 


234         A    HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

in  any  other  year  of  its  history.  Thus  in  1882  he 
enumerates  eight  or  ten  gifts,  bequests,  and  promis- 
sory notes,  some  large  and  some  small,  amount- 
ing in  all  to  $270,000,  which  the  college  had  re- 
ceived during  the  past  six  months;  and  in  1884 
nearly  as  many  more  actual  payments,  amounting  to 
$150,000.  The  sum  total  of  donations  and  bequests 
during  the  administration  of  President  Seelye  ex- 
ceeded even  that  of  President  Stearns  and  amounted 
to  more  than  $800,000.* 

Meanwhile  the  college  grounds  were  enlarged 
without  expense  to  the  college,  by  the  purchase  of 
several  acres  on  its  eastern  front,  and  graded  and  laid 
out  in  walks  and  drives  and  building  sites  according 
to  a  plan  furnished  by  Mr.  F.  L.  Olmsted,  which 
gives  the  whole  campus  a  beauty  corresponding  with 
the  unsurpassed  beauty  of  its  surroundings. 

All  this  extension  of  grounds,  enlargement  of 
buildings,  and  increase  of  funds  was  only  the  shadow 
and  shell  of  a  corresponding  growth  in  the  faculty, 
the  curriculum,  the  course  of  instruction,  and  the 
general  administration.  "  Education,"  says  the  presi- 
dent in  his  annual  report  to  the  trustees  in  1886,  "is 
not  by  buildings,  or  apparatus,  or  books,  but  by  the 
living  teacher,  and  he  can  do  only  a  small  part  of 
his  work  upon  classes,  but  must  be  brought  closely 
into  contact  with  individual  pupils.  This  involves 
small  sections  and  therefore,  with  a  large  number  of 
students,  many  teachers.  To  increase  our  number 
of  teachers,  even  faster  than  our  number  of  students 


1  At  the  close  of  this  volume  a  more  detailed  statement  may 
be  found. 


A    HISTORY    OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  235 

has  increased,1  has  been  of  late  what  I  have  no  doubt 
is  the  wise  policy  of  the  college.  Ten  years  ago, 
when  I  entered  upon  the  presidency,  the  faculty  num- 
bered seventeen  members;  now  they  are  twenty-six. 
The  professorships  of  German,  biology,  and  logic, 
the  associate  professorships  of  mental  and  moral  phil- 
osophy, of  astronomy,  of  rhetoric,  and  of  Latin,  have 
all  been  established  in  the  last  decade.  Ten  years 
ago  we  had  four  teachers  in  Latin  and  Greek ;  now  we 
have  six.  Ten  years  ago  there  were  but  two  teachers 
in  the  English  department;  now  there  are  three. 
There  were  then  but  three  teachers  in  the  depart- 
ments of  mathematics,  physics,  and  astronomy;  now 
there  are  four.  Three  teachers  then  gave  all  the  in- 
struction in  the  natural  sciences,  where  four  are  now 
employed.  A  new  teacher  has  been  added  in  phil- 
osophy, and  also  one  in  political  economy.  This 
increase  in  the  number  of  teachers  has  permitted  a 
larger  subdivision  of  the  classes,  and  has  made  possi- 
ble a  great  increase  in  elective  studies.  Ten  years 
ago  hardly  any  optional  work  could  be  taken,  while 
now  the  major  part  of  the  studies  for  junior  and 
senior  years  are  elective.  And  yet  we  are  making 
haste  slowly  with  these  elective  studies.  We  insist 
that  a  student  shall  not  be  encouraged  to  make  his 
college  course  professional.  Breadth  and  not  atten- 
uated length  is  what  we  are  endeavoring  to  secure." 

The  president's  care  for  the  health  and  efficiency 
of  his  faculty  and  his  supreme  reliance  on  them  as 

1  In  1888  he  reports  the  average  number  of  students  for  the 
last  twelve  years  as  339,  while  the  average  for  the  previous 
twelve  years  was  267 — quite  an  increase,  but  not  a  percentage 
of  increase  equal  to  that  in  the  number  of  teachers. 


236         A   HISTORY    OF   AMHERST    COLLEGE. 

the  strength  of  the  college  are  emphasized  by  fre- 
quent appeals  for  increased  salaries,  and  repeated 
recommendations  of  a  rule  whereby,  after  seven  years 
of  able  and  faithful  service,  every  professor  should 
be  allowed  a  year's  absence  on  half  salary  for  rest  or 
improvement  by  travel  and  study.  Such  a  rule  has 
never  been  formally  enacted  in  Amherst  College. 
But  the  same  result  has  been  secured,  in  part  at  least, 
by  the  readiness  of  the  trustees  to  grant  such  leave 
of  absence,  when  it  is  asked ;  and  many  of  the  pro- 
fessors have  gained  a  new  lease  of  life  and  health, 
and  new  resources  for  teaching,  by  a  year  or  part  of 
a  year  of  absence. 

The  great  increase  of  elective  studies  above  men- 
tioned was  only  one  of  a  series  or  succession  of  chang- 
es gradually  introduced  under  this  administration,  all 
tending  towards  a  larger  liberty  among  the  students, 
a  happier  relation  and  heartier  cooperation  between 
them  and  the  faculty,  and  a  larger  measure  of  self- 
government  and  self-education  in  every  department 
of  the  college.  Thus  students  were  admitted  to  col- 
lege without  examination  on  certificates  from  such 
preparatory  schools  as  had  proved  themselves  worthy 
of  such  confidence  by  sending  us  such  students,  and 
only  such,  as  were  well  prepared.  And  the  process 
of  sifting  out  the  unworthy  and  incompetent  was 
carried  on  through  the  first  term  and  the  first  year 
under  the  eyes  of  the  faculty  themselves,  and  by  the 
hands  of  those  who  had  the  immediate  instruction 
and  government  of  the  freshman  class.  This  was 
felt  to  be  due  both  to  the  preparatory  schools  and  the 
college,  just  and  fair  to  the  candidates,  and  it  was 
found  to  be  satisfactory  in  its  results  to  all  concerned. 


A    HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  237 

A  corresponding  change  was  made  in  the  examina- 
tions of  the  college  course.  Amherst  had  already  led 
the  way  in  dispensing  with  biennials  and  senior  ex- 
aminations in  the  whole  curriculum,  which  all  the 
colleges  now  know  to  have  been  a  sham  and  a  plague. 
And  now  she  introduced  the  system  of  "  examination 
reviews,"  that  is,  a  review,  say,  once  in  every  two 
or  three  weeks,  on  a  particular  subject  or  part  of  a 
subject  as  the  case  may  be,  with  the  understanding 
that  the  review  is  also  to  be  marked  as  an  examina- 
tion, to  be  followed,  at  the  discretion  of  the  professor, 
by  an  examination  of  some  kind  on  the  work  of  the 
term.  For  example,  in  the  study  of  Homer,  at  the 
completion  of  a  book,  we  would  have  an  examination 
review  of  the  book,  and  at  the  close  of  the  term,  per- 
haps, a  written  examination  or  reading  at  sight  of 
the  work  of  the  term.  This  practice  gave  rise  to  the 
rumor,  which  went  abroad,  that  Amherst  had  given 
up  all  examinations,  whereas  the  method  in  fact  se- 
cured the  maximum  of  the  benefits  of  frequent  ex- 
aminations and  reviews  with  the  minimum  of  cram- 
ming, cribbing,  and  mere  memorizing  which  are 
ordinarily  attendant  upon  examinations. 

A  change  in  the  marking  system  accompanied  the 
change  in  regard  to  examinations.  Some  of  the 
teachers  had  been  accustomed  to  mark  every  recita- 
tion, while  others  had  marked  no  recitations.  It  now 
became  the  rule  to  mark  examination  reviews  and 
not  recitations.  And  instead  of  attempting  to  fix 
the  rank  of  every  individual  student  by  minute  divi- 
sions on  a  scale  of  a  hundred  as  formerly,  five  grades 
of  scholarship  were  established  and  degrees  were 
conferred  upon  the  graduating  classes  according  to 


238         A    HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

their  grades.  If  a  student  was  found  to  be  in  the 
first  or  lowest  grade,  he  was  not  considered  as  a  can- 
didate for  a  degree,  though  he  might  receive  a  cer- 
tificate stating  the  facts  in  regard  to  his  standing;  if 
he  appeared  in  the  second  grade  the  degree  of  A.B. 
was  conferred  upon  him  rite;  if  in  the  third,  cum  laude; 
if  in  the  fourth,  magna  cum  laude;  while  if  he  reached 
the  fifth  grade  he  received  the  degree  summa  cum 
laude.  The  advantages  of  this  course,  as  stated  to  the 
trustees  by  the  president,  are  that  it  properly  dis- 
criminates between  those  who,  though  passing  over 
the  same  course  of  study,  have  done  it  with  great 
differences  of  merit  and  of  scholarship,  and  that  it 
furnishes  a  healthy  incentive  to  the  best  work  with- 
out exciting  an  excessive  spirit  of  emulation. 

The  new  system  of  administration,  of  which  the 
above  is  a  part,  is  so  original  and  peculiar  that  it  is 
known  as  the  Amherst  System,  and,  in  justice  to 
President  Seelye,  who  is  its  author,  we  state  the  system 
and  the  reasons  for  its  introduction  in  his  own  words. 
In  his  annual  report  to  the  trustees  in  1881  he  says: 

"  The  year  has  been  marked  by  some  significant 
changes.  At  its  beginning  I  proposed  to  the  faculty 
a  new  scheme  of  college  administration  to  obviate 
some  difficulties  long  apparent  in  the  relations  of 
faculty  and  students.  These  difficulties  have  been 
largely  due,  I  judge,  to  the  fact  that  the  system  of 
college  administration  in  our  country  remains  essen- 
tially the  same  as  it  was  a  hundred  and  fifty  years 
ago,  while  during  this  time  the  age  of  our  students 
has  been  slowly  but  steadily  advancing  until  it  aver- 
ages now  some  three  or  perhaps  four  years  more  than 
it  did  a  century  and  a  half  since.  The  college,  as 


A    HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  239 

originally  established  and  as  subsequently  continued, 
stood,  in  theory,  as  in  loco  parentis  to  the  student,  but 
the  student  was  considered  not  as  a  youthful  son  to 
be  brought  into  confidential  and  affectionate  com- 
munion with  his  parent,  but  as  a  child,  probably 
wayward  and  certainly  incapable  of  self-direction, 
and  to  be  guided  and  restrained  by  the  constant  con- 
trol of  parental  authority.  This  was  probably  very 
well  suited  to  a  condition  and  time  when,  as  was  true 
in  some  of  our  prominent  colleges,  a  student  could 
graduate  having  completed  the  whole  course  at  thir- 
teen, and  when  a  salutary  discipline  was  found  in 
corporal  punishment ;  but  it  is  a  very  untoward  sys- 
tem to  maintain  over  a  body  of  young  men  old  enough 
to  possess  the  rights  and  incur  the  obligations  of  self- 
government.  Scores  of  our  students  are  legal  voters 
in  our  civil  elections.  Having  had  for  some  time  a 
growing  conviction  that  this  system  of  college  man- 
agement needed  now  some  radical  modifications,  it 
seemed  best  to  make  a  trial  of  these.  The  first  aim 
was  the  point  of  view  from  which  the  relations  of 
the  faculty  and  the  students  could  be  correctly  ap- 
prehended. It  was  quite  clear  that  these  relations  had 
ceased  to  be  those  of  parent  and  child.  They  were 
more  nearly  those  of  older  and  younger  brothers,  in 
which  the  older  is  a  helper  and  guide  to  the  younger, 
and  controls  him  through  his  own  acceptance  of  rules 
which  he  sees  to  be  right  rather  than  his  submission 
to  authority  in  matters  whose  Tightness  he  does  not 
see.  Rules  are,  of  course,  indispensable,  but  it  makes 
a  wide  difference  whether  these  rules  come  as  an 
enactment  which  the  authority  of  the  faculty  is  to 
maintain,  or  whether  they  shall  be  accepted  by  the 


240         A   HISTORY    OF   AMHERST    COLLEGE. 

student  in  an  agreement  which  his  own  free  choice 
is  interested  to  fulfil.  The  attempt  was  therefore 
made  to  formulate  a  system  of  administrative  rules 
which  should  simply  express  what  every  student 
would  recognize  as  true  and  obligatory,  and  whose 
force  in  constraining  reluctant  wills  should  lie  not  in 
any  punishment  inflicted  by  the  faculty,  but  in  what  a 
student  should  see  from  the  nature  of  the  case  if  these 
rules  should  be  disregarded.  ...  It  would  certainly 
be  better  for  the  student  at  the  age  he  has  now 
reached,  and  in  the  immediate  preparation  he  is  mak- 
ing for  the  responsibilities  of  manhood,  if  he  could 
be  led  to  feel  the  necessity  of  self-government.  It 
would  be  better  also  for  the  faculty  to  feel  that  their 
influence  over  the  student  was  not  to  be  supported 
by  any  machinery  or  outward  appliances,  but  could 
only  be  maintained  by  their  own  power  of  individual 
inspiration. 

"  The  system  after  having  been  thoroughly  consid- 
ered received  the  hearty  approval  of  the  faculty,  and 
was  unanimously  adopted.  .  .  .  The  result  has  been 
better  than  any  one  ventured  to  anticipate.  It  is,  I 
believe,  the  unanimous  conviction  of  the  faculty  that 
they  have  never  known  a  year  when  so  much  honest 
work  has  been  done  in  the  college,  and  with  so 
healthy  results,  as  in  the  year  now  closed.  The  at- 
tendance upon  college  exercises  has  surprised  us  all. 
It  was  a  part  of  the  system  that  excuses  for  absence 
from  recitations  or  lectures  should  no  longer  be  ren- 
dered. The  students  were  informed  that  absences 
from  these  exercises,  whatever  their  cause,  are  ab- 
sences all  the  same,  indicative  of  a  certain  lack  in 
the  work  regularly  and  properly  required,  which  ex- 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.          24! 

cuses,  however  justifiable,  could  not  change  in  the 
least,  and  for  which,  therefore,  they  were  wholly  ir- 
relevant. The  college  prescribing  a  certain  course  of 
study  and  giving  a  certain  diploma  at  its  close,  it  was 
said  to  the  students  that  this  diploma  should  obviously 
express  nothing  more  and  nothing  less  than  the  exact 
facts  in  the  case,  and  therefore,  if  the  course  prescribed 
had  not  been  fairly  and  fully  followed,  it  would  be 
wrong  to  give  a  diploma  testifying  to  the  contrary. 

"  Lest  the  system  should  seem  too  rigorous  or  too 
little  flexible,  it  was  deemed  best  to  allow  a  certain 
latitude  of  absences  which  a  student  might  take 
without  interfering  with  his  standing,  and  this  was 
fixed  at  one-tenth  of  the  whole  number  of  exercises 
in  a  given  department  for  a  given  term.  The  result 
of  this  was  in  one  point  somewhat  unexpected  and 
not  altogether  satisfactory.  It  was  found  that  the 
students  were  very  economical  in  the  use  of  these 
absences,  carefully  avoiding  in  some  cases  the  least 
expenditure  of  them  till  the  close  of  the  term,  when 
in  many  instances  they  took  them  all  together,  thus  re- 
ducing the  length  of  their  term  by  so  much  as  the  per- 
mission would  allow.  The  faculty  felt  that,  undesir- 
able as  this  was,  it  was  the  less  of  two  evils,  and  that, 
if  a  student  were  to  take  his  absences  at  all,  it  would 
be  better  for  him  to  do  this  in  a  lump  than  to  string 
them  along  at  irregular  times  during  the  term.  The 
students  have  been  told  upon  this  point  that  the 
faculty,  though  giving  this  limited  latitude  of  ab- 
sences, deem  it  unwise  for  the  student  to  take  it  in 
any  case  when  it  can  be  avoided,  and  that  they  will 
take  pains  that  their  instruction  shall  be  as  valuable 
at  the  end  as  during  any  part*  of  the  term.  During 


242         A    HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

the  term  just  ended  the  attendance  continued  much 
better  to  the  close  than  during  either  of  the  two 
preceding  terms." 

The  rules  of  administration  under  this  system  are 
few  and  simple,  in  striking  contrast  with  the  in- 
numerable specifications  of  transgressions  and  pen- 
alties in  the  "  College  Laws"  of  former  days,  and  are 
substantially  contained  in  this  single  paragraph :  "  A 
student  whose  recommendations  have  been  approved 
and  whose  examinations  have  shown  him  capable  of 
admission  to  Amherst  College,  is  received  as  a  gen- 
tleman, and,  as  such,  is  trusted  to  conduct  himself  in 
truthfulness  and  uprightness,  in  kindness  and  re- 
spect, in  diligence  and  sobriety,  in  obedience  to  law 
and  maintenance  of  order  and  regard  for  Christian 
institutions  as  becomes  a  member  of  a  Christian  col- 
lege. The  privileges  of  the  college  are  granted  only 
to  those  who  are  believed  to  be  worthy  of  this  trust, 
and  are  forfeited  whenever  this  trust  is  falsified. 

"  On  his  admission  the  student  signs  a  promise  so 
to  conduct  himself,  and,  failing  to  do  so,  thereby 
breaks  his  contract  and  severs  himself  from  his  con- 
nection with  the  college.  In  deciding  the  question 
whether  students  have  thus  broken  their  contract 
and  severed  themselves  from  the  college,  the  faculty 
judged  it  wise  to  associate  with  themselves,  in  the 
immediate  government  of  the  college,  a  body  chosen 
by  the  students  themselves,  to  which  questions  of 
college  order  and  decorum  are  referred,  and  whose 
decisions,  if  approved  by  the  president,  are  binding 
on  the  college.  This  body  is  called  the  College  Sen- 
ate, and  consists  of  four  seniors,  three  juniors,  two 
sophomores,  and  one  -freshman,  chosen  by  their  re- 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  243 

spective  classes.1  At  the  meetings  of  the  senate, 
which  are  held  regularly  once  a  month,  the  president 
of  the  college  presides.  This  movement  towards  self- 
government  has  been  thus  far  justified  by  its  results." 

So  said  the  faculty  in  the  annual  catalogue  issued 
at  the  close  of  the  first  year  after  its  introduction. 
And  the  same  verdict  is  repeated  in  every  annual 
catalogue  from  that  year  to  the  present  time.  In  his 
annual  report  for  1882,  President  Seelye  says:  "The 
results  of  the  new  system  of  administration,  of  which 
I  made  a  detailed  report  to  the  trustees  one  year  ago, 
have  been,  during  the  year  now  closing,  most  satis- 
factory. The  faculty  recently  made  a  careful  exam- 
ination of  these  results  and  were  unanimous  in  their 
judgment  that  the  workings  of  the  system  have  been 
favorable  both  as  respects  the  regularity  of  attendance 
and  the  standard  of  scholarship.  The  system  has 
attracted  a  wide  attention,  and  we  find  that  some 
colleges,  by  which  it  was  at  first  sharply  criticised, 
are  beginning  to  adopt  some  of  its  more  important 
features." 

The  next  year  he  speaks  still  more  positively  and 
particularly  of  the  results  of  the  system  in  Amherst, 
and  its  adoption  in  some  of  its  features  by  other 
colleges :  "  The  demeanor  of  the  students  has  been 
well-nigh  unexceptionable.  We  have  had  no  hazing, 
none  of  the  old-time  college  pranks  or  disturbances, 
none  of  the  unseemly  disorders  in  the  village  which 
have  sometimes  prevailed  with  us  and  are  not  infre- 

1  This  feature  of  the  "  Amherst  System"  has  been  suspended 
by  the  resignation  of  the  members  of  the  Senate.  It  is  be- 
lieved, however,  that  sooner  or  later  it  will  be  restored,  not  as 
an  essential  but  a  desirable  part  of  the  system. 


244         A    HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

quent  in  college  towns.  Our  students  have  done  their 
work  during  the  year  with  remarkable  diligence  and 
decorum.  The  new  system  of  administration  meets, 
after  the  third  year  of  its  trial,  the  same  favor  among 
the  faculty  and  the  students  which  has  been  accorded 
it  from  the  first.  We  all  feel  that  it  has  greatly  pro- 
moted kindliness  of  feeling  and  of  intercourse  be- 
tween the  faculty  and  the  students  and  among  the 
students  themselves,  that  it  has  raised  the  standard 
of  manliness  and  manly  conduct  through  the  college, 
that  the  grade  of  scholarship  and  the  regularity  of 
attendance  have  both  been  increased,  and  that  there 
has  been  a  manifest  uplifting  of  the  whole  tone  of 
the  college.  We  do  not  regard  the  system  as  any 
longer  an  experiment." 

It  is  quite  unnecessary  that  the  writer  should  add 
his  testimony  to  that  of  the  president.  His  report  is 
aot  merely  the  partial  attestation  of  the  author  of  the 
system  to  the  work  of  his  own  hands ;  it  is  the  unani- 
mous verdict  of  all  the  faculty  and  all  the  students. 
I  have  never  yet  seen  the  teacher  or  the  student  who 
would  wish  to  return  to  the  old  system.  The  new 
system  is  imperfect,  of  course,  like  all  the  works  of 
men.  It  admits  of,  and  doubtless  will  receive,  modi- 
fication and  improvement  as  the  result  of  longer  ex- 
perience. It  needs  careful  watching  and  wisdom  in 
its  execution.  But  the  old  system  of  permits  and 
penalties,  of  excuses  and  evasions,  of  government 
without  representation,  of  stepmotherly  prohibitions 
and  stepfatherly  punishments,  of  mutual  distrust  and 
suspicion,  of  separate  interests  and  hostile  plans  and 
purposes,  has  gone  in  Amherst,  and  has  gone  or  is 
going  in  other  colleges,  never  to  return.  The  day 


A    HISTORY    OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.          245 

of  common  interests  and  mutual  confidence  and 
hearty  cooperation,  the  day  of  representation  of  the 
alumni  in  the  Board  of  Trustees,  and  of  under- 
graduates in  the  faculty,  the  day  of  larger  liberty 
and  more  self-government,  the  day  of  elective  studies 
and  manly  development  and  practical  preparation  for 
the  duties  of  citizenship  under  free  institutions,  has 
come  in  Amherst  and  is  coming — coming  to  stay — in 
all  our  colleges,  and  we  may  thank  President  Seelye 
for  hastening  its  dawn.  The  faculty  of  Amherst 
never  did  a  wiser  thing  than  when,  early  in  his  ad- 
ministration, they  committed  the  immediate  govern- 
ment of  the  college  largely,  we  might  almost  say 
entirely,  into  his  hands.  He  took  council  with  his 
faculty,  considered  their  wishes,  and  profited  by  their 
wisdom  and  experience.  He  associated  a  represen- 
tative body  of  the  students  with  himself  in  deciding 
questions  of  college  order,  deportment,  and  decorum. 
But  he  held  the  reins  in  his  own  hands,  and  his  ad- 
ministration proved  or  illustrated  two  maxims  in  the 
science  of  government:  that  executive  government 
is  best  administered  by  one  head,  and  that  that  gov- 
ernment is  best  which  governs  the  least.  Radical  as 
the  changes  were  which  he  introduced,  he  ruled  with 
great  moderation,  and  great  peace  and  prosperity 
were  the  results  to  the  college.  Gentleness  tempered 
by  firmness  characterized  his  administration  and 
shaped  it  to  suit  the  character  of  individual  students. 
His  patience  saved  many  a  wayward  student,  his  gen- 
tleness made  many  an  unpromising  student  good  and 
great.  His  firmness  never  feared  or  hesitated,  when  it 
became  necessary  to  say  to  the  individual  student  or 
the  whole  college,  Thus  far  shalt  thou  go  and  no  far- 


246          A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

ther.  He  knew  every  student  personally,  recognized 
him  wherever  he  met  him,  and  called  him  by  name, 
in  most  cases  by  his  Christian  name,  as  if  he  were  a 
younger  brother.  Socratic  in  his  method  of  teach- 
ing, he  was  Socratic  also  in  his  personal  influence 
and  his  strong  personal  hold  on  young  men.  This 
took  a  good  deal  of  time,  but  it  was  time  well  spent. 
His  time  belonged  to  the  college,  and  was  given 
without  sparing  and  without  grudging  to  the  service 
of  the  faculty  and  the  students.  He  made  it  a  rule 
never  to  be  out  of  town  in  term  time  unless  he  was 
constrained  to  be  absent  by  manifest  duty  or  impera- 
tive necessity.  He  taught  less  and  less  in  the  class- 
room. When  he  entered  upon  the  presidential  office, 
he  insisted  on  retaining  the  professorship  of  philoso- 
phy as  a  proper  adjunct  of  the  presidency  and  a 
channel  of  the  greatest  and  best  educational  influ- 
ence. But  experience  taught  him  that  the  work  of 
this  most  important  professorship  and  the  burdens  of 
the  presidency  of  a  modern  college,  and  the  duties 
of  the  office  as  he  understood  them,  were  more  than 
any  one  man  could  carry,  and  when  he  found  a  man 
after  his  own  heart  to  teach  philosophy  he  first  trans- 
ferred to  him  one-half  of  the  senior  class,  alternating 
the  divisions  with  him  every  other  day,  and  then 
handed  over  to  him  the  instruction  of  the  whole  class 
and  the  responsibility  of  the  department.  This  left 
him  only  the  "  question  box"  one  hour  every  week, 
an  exercise  which  he  continued  as  long  as  he  con- 
tinued to  be  president,  teaching  the  class  how  to  ask 
questions  as  well  as  how  to  answer  them,  and  dis- 
cussing with  them  subjects  of  the  greatest  moment 
in  literature,  science,  and  art,  in  politics,  ethics,  and 


A    HISTORY    OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  247 

religion,  with  so  much  learning  and  power  that, 
through  the  week,  they  looked  forward  to  that  hour 
with  an  interest  which  attended  no  other  college  ex- 
ercise. His  knowledge  of  books  was  as  wide  and 
profound  as  his  knowledge  of  men  and  things.  It 
was  said  of  the  old  Greek  philosopher  Carneades,  that 
he  could  repeat  from  memory  the  contents  of  any 
book  in  the  libraries  as  accurately  and  freely  as  if  he 
were  reading  from  the  book  itself.  Very  similar  to 
this  was  the  confidence  which  faculty  and  students 
reposed  in  President  Seelye 's  knowledge  of  books. 
But  he  made  very  little  direct  use  of  books,  in  teach- 
ing. He  first  absorbed  the  books,  text-books,  and 
books  of  illustration,  into  himself,  and  then  impressed 
himself  upon  his  pupils.  In  Raphael's  School  of 
Athens,  a  knot  of  youthful  philosophers  had  sent  one 
of  their  number  for  a  book ;  but  meanwhile  Socrates 
had  solved  the  question,  and  now  we  see  them  wav- 
ing away  the  returning  messenger,  and  pointing  to 
Socrates,  as  much  as  to  say,  Behold,  he  is  the  book! 
At  the  time  of  his  election  to  the  presidency,  Dr. 
Seelye  had  a  strong  desire  to  write  books  on  some 
parts  of  church  history  and  philosophy  which  had 
not  been  treated  to  his  satisfaction,  and  this  was  one 
reason  why  he  hesitated  about  accepting  the  presi- 
dency. But  he  sacrificed  this  very  natural  and  worthy 
ambition.  He  accepted  the  presidency  and  devoted 
his  life  to  the  work  of  an  educator.  Like  the  great 
Athenian  philosopher  and  educator,  he  wrote  his 
books  in  the  minds  and  hearts,  the  characters  and 
lives,  of  his  students,  where  they  will  live  forever. 

Dr.  Seelye  had  translated  and  published  Schweg- 
ler's  "  History  of  Philosophy"  while  he  was  pastor  of 
17 


248          A   HISTORY    OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

the  church  in  Schenectady.  He  revised  and  edited 
Hickok's  "Mental  Science"  and  "Moral  Science" 
while  he  was  professor,  and  rewrote  the  "  Moral 
Science"  during  his  presidency.  That  remarkable 
little  volume,  "  The  Way,  the  Truth,  and  the  Life- 
Lectures  to  Educated  Hindus,"  which,  within  the 
compass  of  a  hundred  pages,  contains  so  much  of  the 
sum  and  substance  of  the  Gospel,  and  not  the  evidence 
only  but  the  very  essence  of  Christianity,  was  written 
at  Bombay  after  the  lectures  were  delivered,  at  the 
request  of  those  who  heard  them,  and  issued  from 
the  press  in  Bombay  at  the  expense  of  one  who  was 
himself  an  eminent  Brahmin  scholar.  This  was  in 
1873,  two  or  three  years  prior  to  his  entrance  upon 
the  presidential  office.  This  was  followed,  soon  after 
his  return  from  India,  by  another  "small  book  on 
a  great  subject,"  "  Christian  Missions,"  which  was  first 
delivered  as  lectures  in  several  of  our  principal  theo- 
logical seminaries,  and  then  printed  in  a  volume. 
His  speeches  in  Congress  were  always  listened  to 
with  marked  attention  and  profound  respect,  although 
they  were  too  independent  of  party  always  to  com- 
mand the  majority  of  votes.  He  usually  acted  with 
the  Republicans,  but  in  the  famous  contested  elec- 
tion he  stood  almost  alone  in  the  Republican  ranks 
in  voting  against  seating  Mr.  Hayes  in  the  presiden- 
tial chair.  As  a  member  of  the  Committee  on  Indian 
Affairs  he  was  a  stalwart  champion  of  Indian  rights, 
and  his  speeches  on  this  subject  adorn  the  congres- 
sional records.  His  occasional  addresses,  such  as  his 
election  sermon  before  the  governor,  council,  and 
legislature  of  Massachusetts,  his  sermon  before  the 
American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Mis- 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.         249 

sions  at  Minneapolis,  his  annual  address  as  president 
for  several  years  of  the  American  Home  Missionary 
Society,  and  his  baccalaureate  sermons  were  printed 
and  published  in  various  forms,  and  deserve  to  be 
reprinted  for  their  permanent  value  as  profound  dis- 
cussions of  the  great  principles  which  underlie  gov- 
ernment, society,  education,  and  religion.  The  same 
may  be  said  of  the  numerous  articles  which  he  was 
in  the  habit  of  writing  during  his  whole  life  for  the 
reviews,  magazines,  and  newspapers  on  the  great 
questions  of  the  times,  such,  for  example,  as  these: 
"The  Electoral  Commission,"  "Counting  the  Elec- 
toral Votes,"  "The  Moral  Character  in  Politics," 
"  The  Need  of  a  Better  Political  Education,"  "  Dyna- 
mite as  a  Factor  in  Civilization,"  "The  Gospel  to  be 
Preached  First  in  Our  Great  Cities,"  "The  Currency 
Question,"  "Christian  Union,"  "Should  the  State 
Teach  Religion?"  "The  Sabbath  Question,"  "The 
Bible  in  Schools,"  "Prohibitory  Laws  and  Personal 
Liberty,"  "Punishment,  its  Meaning  and  Ground," 
"The  Recognition  of  God  in  the  Constitution," 
"Growth  through  Obedience,"  "Our  Place  in  His- 
tory." These  and  the  like  vital  questions  always 
interested  him  profoundly,  and  he  always  discussed 
them,  whether  with  the  tongue  or  the  pen,  in  the 
threefold  light  of  universal  history,  a  profound  spirit- 
ual philosophy,  and  an  earnest,  enlightened,  evangeli- 
cal Christianity.  And  he  was  usually  inclined  in 
theory  and  in  practice  to  adopt  the  most  advanced, 
the  broadest  and  deepest,  the  most  profoundly  spirit- 
ual and  intensely  evangelical  views  of  these  great 
questions,  so  much  so  that  he  sometimes  seemed  to 
be  unpractical,  and  by  some  persons  was  thought  an 


A   HISTORY    OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

extremist,  although  he  retained  the  confidence  of  his 
fellow  Christians  in  practical  matters  so  fully  that 
they  placed  him  at  the  head  of  their  great  missionary 
agencies,  and  when  they  wished  to  formulate  a  new 
creed  for  the  denomination  in  which  they  could  all 
unite,  he  was  made  chairman  of  the  "  Creed  Com- 
mission/' and  is  understood  to  have  drafted  the  form. 
Plato  has  the  reputation  of  being  an  extremist 
and  is  doubtless  open  to  the  charge  of  carrying 
his  political  and  ethical  philosophy  to  extravagant 
lengths.  President  Seelye  was  a  philosopher  of  the 
Platonic  school,  and  his  doctrines,  his  sentiments, 
his  style  even  is  shaped,  colored,  tinged  at  least  by 
that  of  Plato.  But  he  called  no  man  master.  He 
could  say  with  Aristotle,  and  even  more  justly  than 
he:  Amicus  Socrates,  amicus  Plato,  magis  tamen  arnica 
veritas;  and  to  President  Seelye,  Jesus  Christ  was 
emphatically  and  alone  the  Truth,  the  Way,  and  the 
Life. 

We  were  accustomed  to  speak  and  to  think  of  Dr. 
Seelye  through  all  his  earlier  life  as  the  healthiest, 
heartiest,  strongest,  most  robust  man  in  the  faculty, 
the  very  ideal  of  a  large,  strong,  healthy  man  in 
every  particular,  physically,  intellectually,  morally, 
and  spiritually.  On  the  5th  of  March,  1881,  Mrs. 
Seelye  was  taken  from  him,  and  he  never  seemed  to 
recover  fully  from  the  shock.  A  part  of  himself  was 
taken  up  to  the  better  world,  and  so  tender  was  the 
tie,  so  indissoluble  the  union,  so  perfect  the  oneness 
of  the  present  with  the  future  life,  that  he  could 
never  think  of  marrying  again. 

In  the  winter  of  1885  he  was  himself  sick  with  a 
severe  attack  of  erysipelas  which  brought  him  to  the 


A    HISTORY    OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.          251 

very  borders  of  the  grave.  Subsequently  to  this,  a 
disease  of  the  nervous  system,  largely  hereditary, 
and  partly  the  result  of  overwork,  care,  and  responsi- 
bility, gradually  developed  itself,  increasing  slowly 
from  year  to  year  till  at  length  it  interfered  not  only 
with  his  comfort  but  his  ability  to  discharge  the 
duties  of  his  office.  He  consulted  the  ablest  physi- 
cians in  his  own  country ;  he  went  abroad  twice  for 
medical  advice  and  rest  and  change,  but  to  no  pur- 
pose, till  at  length  his  friends  and  the  friends  of  the 
college  yielded  reluctantly  to  his  conviction  of  the 
necessities  of  the  case,  and  he  tendered  his  resigna- 
tion. The  college  ought  to  have  had  the  service  of 
at  least  four  more  of  the  best  years  of  his  life  before 
reaching  the  limit  of  threescore  years  and  ten.  But 
he  bowed  serenely,  cheerfully  to  the  will  of  God, 
cooperated  heartily  with  the  trustees  in  the  selection 
and  inauguration  of  his  successor,  and  placed  the 
keys  of  the  college  in  his  hands  with  those  noble 
words:  "Truth  and  freedom — truth  coming  from 
whatever  direction  and  freedom  knowing  no  bounds 
but  those  the  truth  has  set — have  ever  been  the  light 
and  the  life  of  this  college,  and  we  do  not  doubt,  from 
your  work  and  worth,  from  your  open  eye  and  open 
heart,  that  they  will  continue  to  be  the  glory  and  the 
strength  of  your  entire  administration. "  The  present 
administration  inherits  the  good  will  and  the  bene- 
diction of  that  which  preceded  it,  and  may  the  bless- 
ing go  down  through  many  generations  of  wise  and 
good  presidents,  the  worthy  heirs  to  such  an  inherit- 
ance, till  time  shall  be  no  more. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

ATHLETICS — GYMNASIUM  EXERCISES    AND  "  THE  DOCTOR" 

INTERCOLLEGIATE    GAMES — COLLEGE     SOCIETIES — • 

THE    GREEK-LETTER    FRATERNITIES. 

THE  college  is  indebted  to  President  Stearns,  as 
we  have  seen  in  the  chapter  on  his  administration, 
for  the  introduction  of  the  system  of  gymnastics  and 
physical  education  for  which  it  has  since  become  so 
highly  distinguished,  and  for  the  erection  of  the 
Barrett  gymnasium  by  which  it  was  in  his  day  so 
well  and  worthily  represented.  But  the  department 
of  hygiene  and  physical  culture  has  since  had  a 
growth  and  development,  of  which  no  one  at  that 
time  could  have  had  a  conception,  and  which  is  fitly 
represented  by  the  Pratt  gymnasium  and  the  Pratt 
field  of  athletics,  the  Pratt  gymnasium  having  cost 
over  $60,000,  the  Pratt  field  more  than  $35,000,  and 
the  whole  plant  of  the  department,  including  build- 
ings, grounds,  apparatus  and  endowments,  mounting 
up  to  the  magnificent  sum  of  $i77,ooo.1 

The  Amherst  system  of  required  exercise  in  the 
gymnasium  of  all  the  classes,  half  an  hour  daily  four 
days  in  a  week,  under  the  direction  and  control  of  an 
experienced  physician,  has  been  maintained  substan- 
tially as  it  was  instituted  in  1860,  with  only  such 

1  This  includes  the  Parmly  Billings  professorship  of  $50,000, 
founded  by  Hon.  Frederick  Billings  in  memory  of  his  son. 

252 


OF  THE 

[UNIVERSITY, 


AMHERST   COLLEGE    ATHLETIC    GROUNDS. 


A   HISTORY    OF   AMHERST    COLLEGE.         253 

changes  as  the  wisdom  and  experience,  let  me  rather 
say  the  tact  and  genius,  of  Dr.  Edward  Hitchcock 
have  devised,  and  the  growing  pecuniary  resources 
of  the  department  have  enabled  him  to  accomplish, 
for  its  enlargement  and  improvement  from  year  to 
year.  With  all  the  extension  and  multiplication  of 
optional  studies,  these  exercises  have  never  been 
made  elective.  If  anything  is  "compulsory"  in 
Amherst,  it  is  the  gymnastic  exercise — just  as  much 
so  as  attendance  on  any  lectures  or  recitations,  quite 
as  '*  compulsory"  as  morning  prayers  or  church  ser- 
vices, and  not  less  imperative,  unless  excused  by  the 
professor  in  special  cases,  than  breakfast,  dinner, 
and  supper.  During  the  fall  and  winter  terms  and 
a  part  of  the  spring  term,  every  class  is  obliged,  four 
days  in  a  week,  to  go  through  a  dumb-bell  drill 
that  was  learned  at  the  beginning  of  the  course.1 
Being  done  with  piano  accompaniment,  these  exer- 
cises are  not  monotonous,  especially  as  no  two  of 
them  are  alike,  and  as  each  is  composed  of  a  large 
variety  of  movements.  Every  spring  there  is  held 
in  the  gymnasium  a  prize  exhibition,  at  which  the 
three  lower  classes  compete  in  marching  and  dumb- 
bell drilling,  for  a  prize.  This  causes  the  class  ex- 
ercises to  be  conducted  during  the  last  part  of  the 
winter  with  a  marked  degree  of  energy,  steadiness, 
and  punctuality.  The  principal  interest  has  been 
created  by  the  rivalry  between  the  classes,  especially 
the  junior  and  sophomore,  to  have  the  larger  number 
of  points  and  win  the  prize  of  $100.  In  addition  to 

1  For  some  of  these  details,  I  am  indebted  to  a  magazine  ar- 
ticle recently  published  with  the  approval  of  the  Department. 


254         A    HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

these  class  exercises,  the  department  stimulates  an  in- 
terest in  athletics  by  holding  every  fall  an  out-of-door 
athletic  meet  and  every  winter  a  heavy  gymnastic 
exercise.  At  both  events  the  individual  prize-win- 
ners are  given  medals,  and  the  class  scoring  the 
largest  number  of  points  at  the  former  receives  a 
barrel  of  cider,  which  is  disposed  of  with  many  cere- 
monies, and  at  the  latter  has  its  numerals  placed  on 
one  of  the  banners  hanging  on  the  walls  of  the  gym- 
nasium. Does  not  the  success  of  these  contests 
among  our  own  students  prove  the  practicability  of 
finding  at  home  exercise  and  recreation  that  are  al- 
together wholesome  and  sufficiently  exciting,  and 
yet  free  from  the  temptations  and  dangers,  the  ex- 
penses and  excesses  that  are  inseparable  from  inter- 
collegiate games  and  the  visits  of  masses  of  college 
students  to  other  colleges  and  our  large  cities? 

But  these  intercollegiate  games  are  just  now  all 
the  fashion  and  the  passion  of  the  times,  and  Am- 
herst  is  swept  along  with  the  tide.  For  a  short  time, 
from  1869  to  1875,  the  boating  "craze"  prevailed, 
and  in  1872  the  Amherstcrew  won  the  intercollegiate 
race  over  a  three-mile  course  at  Springfield  against 
the  crews  of  Harvard,  the  Massachusetts  Agricul- 
tural College,  Bowdoin,  Williams,  and  Yale.  But 
the  distance  of  the  college  from  the  river  forbade 
the  necessary  practice,  gradually  damped  the  ardor 
of  the  crew,  and  after  a  few  years  they  withdrew 
from  the  contests. 

Since  1875  the  chief  interest  has  centred  in  the 
intercollegiate  ball  games,  baseball  in  the  spring 
and  early  summer,  and  football  in  the  autumn. 
Amherst  has  played  with  each  of  the  New  England 


OF  THE 

^UNIVERSITY 

OF 


A   HISTORY    OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.          255 

colleges,  belonged  to  different  leagues,  and  con- 
tended with  varying  alternations  of  successes  and  re- 
verses, sometimes,  though  rarely,  defeating  Harvard 
and  Yale,  bearing  off  her  full  share  of  honors  in  her 
contests  with  other  colleges,  and  generally,  I  be- 
lieve, though  not  without  some  exceptions,  sustaining 
a  good  reputation  with  the  public,  not  only  as  ath- 
letes but  as  gentlemen.  Amherst  is  a  member  of 
the  American  Intercollegiate  Athletic  Association, 
at  the  meeting  of  which  in  1890  her  representatives 
took  two  first  prizes  and  one  second,  and  also  of  the 
New  England  Association,  in  which  Amherst  won  the 
championship  in  1888  and  1890.  It  is  only  quite 
recently  that  she  has  entered  the  lists  in  lawn  ten- 
nis, and  she  has  not  gained  distinction  in  that  line, 
although  one  of  her  sons,  Mr.  C.  A.  Chase,  as  the 
result  of  his  practice  in  Amherst,  has,  since  his 
graduation,  won  several  trophies,  including  that  of 
the  championship  of  the  West. 

The  effect  of  the  system  of  physical  education  on 
the  health,  strength  and  general  appearance  of  the 
students  is  proved  by  the  physical  tests  and  actual 
measurements  of  the  department,  and  indeed  it  is 
visible  and  palpable  to  the  senses  of  the  casual  ob- 
server. Statistics  kept  by  the  department  for  the 
last  thirty  years  show  a  sensible  diminution  in  the 
percentage  of  sickness  and  deaths,  and  a  palpable 
increase  in  the  average  strength  of  students  as  meas- 
ured by  the  most  approved  strength-tests.  And 
any  one  who  has  been  familiarly  acquainted  with  the 
college  for  half  a  century  cannot  but  be  struck  with 
the  manifest  improvement  in  \hz  physique  of  the  stu- 
dents. I  cannot  accept  without  many  grains  of  al- 


A    HISTORY    OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

lowance  the  graphic  characterization  of  the  typical 
college  student  of  the  last  generation  by  President 
Walker,  of  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology, 
in  his  oration  before  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  society  of 
Harvard  University  at  a  recent  commencement. 
"The  college  hero  of  those  days,"  he  says,  "was 
apt  to  be  a  young  man  of  towering  forehead,  from 
which  the  hair  was  carefully  brushed  backwards  and 
upwards  to  give  the  full  effect  to  his  remarkable 
phrenological  development.  His  cheeks  were  pale ; 
his  digestion  pretty  certain  to  be  bad.  He  was  self- 
conscious,  introspective,  and  indulged  in  moods,  as 
became  a  child  of  genius.  He  had  yearnings  and 
aspirations;  and  not  infrequently  mistook  physical 
lassitude  for  intellectuality,  and  the  gnawings  of  dys- 
pepsia for  spiritual  cravings.  He  would  have 
greatly  distrusted  his  mission  and  his  calling  had  he 
found  himself  at  any  time  playing  ball.  He  went 
through  moral  crises  and  mental  fermentations  which 
to  him  seemed  tremendous.  From  the  gloomy  re- 
cesses of  his  ill-kept  and  unventilated  room,  he  peri- 
odically came  forth  to  astound  his  fellow-students 
with  poor  imitations  of  Coleridge,  De  Quincey  and 
Carlyle,  or  of  Goethe  in  translation." 

Now  this  is,  of  course,  overdrawn  and  exagger- 
ated. If  the  orator  did  not  intend  to  exaggerate 
when  he  wrote  it,  he  would  probably  acknowledge 
now  that  it  was  at  least  high  colored.  It  savors  of 
that  rhetoric  or  fine  writing  which  he  so  much  dis- 
parages and  decries  as  "  the  be-all  and  end-all  of 
the  college  training  of  those  days,"  but  which,  in 
its  legitimate  use  and  best  form,  so  highly  adorns 
this  oration.  It  is  drawn,  we  must  think,  less  from 


A   HISTORY    OF   AMHERST    COLLEGE.          257 

memory  than  from  imagination,  which,  quite  as 
much  as  memory,  is  "the  mother  of  the  Muses,"  the 
maker  of  science  as  well  as  literature  and  art,  and 
without  which  General  Walker  himself  could  not 
have  made  such  a  splendid  success  of  the  institute 
over  which  he  presides.  But  we  fully  agree  with 
him  when  he  says  that  the  improvement  wrought  in 
the  physique  of  our  college  students  by  the  introduc- 
tion of  gymnastic  exercises  does  not  need  to  be 
shown  statistically:  it  is  manifest  to  the  eye  of  the 
most  casual  observer.  And  we  heartily  approve  of 
the  strong  plea  which  he  makes  in  behalf  of  a  well- 
regulated  system  of  physical  education  in  our  col- 
leges, while  we  admire  his  wise  and  discriminating 
suggestions  in  regard  to  the  regulation,  restriction, 
improvement,  and  perfection  of  intercollegiate  ath- 
letics. I  agree  entirely  with  President  Walker, 
of  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology,  when 
he  says  that  college  athletics  wonderfully  light  up 
the  life  of  our  people ;  that  they  stimulate  an  inter- 
est in  gymnastics  among  those  students  who  do  not 
engage  in  competitive  contests,  and  also  throughout 
the  general  community ;  that  they  call  for  more  than 
mere  strength  and  swiftness — they  demand  also 
courage,  coolness,  steadiness  of  nerve,  quickness  of 
apprehension,  resourcefulness,  self-knowledge,  self- 
reliance,  ability  to  work  with  others,  power  of 
combination,  co-operation,  obedience  to  orders, 
subordination  of  selfish  impulses,  and  something 
akin  to  patriotism  and  public  spirit.  And  as  an 
indispensable  means  for  the  attainment  of  these 
ends,  he  urges  that  regard  for  fair  play,  that  respect 
for  the  rights  of  an  opponent,  that  deference  to  the 


258          A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

decisions  of  the  umpire,  which  are  so  conspicuous  in 
English  athletics;  the  complete  abolition  of  the  un- 
sportsmanlike system  of  organized  cheering  by  great 
bodies  of  collegians  grouped  together  for  the  pur- 
pose ;  the  training  of  audiences  as  well  as  students  to 
appreciate  the  finer  points,  to  applaud  good  work  by 
whomsoever  done,  and  to  be  as  virtuous  as  a  Greek 
chorus,  and  the  cooperation  of  alumni  to  give  wis- 
dom, weight  and  temper  to  the  action  of  undergrad- 
uates; and  last,  not  least,  perhaps  hardest  of  all,  the 
education  of  faculties  to  avoid  petty  dictation  on  the 
one  hand,  and  to  sustain  the  claims  of  scholarship 
and  enforce  the  right  discipline  of  college  on  the 
other. 

A  good  step  toward  the  realization  of  these  ideals 
in  Amherst  was  taken  in  1870,  when  the  Amherst 
athletic  board  was  organized,  consisting  of  three 
members  of  the  faculty,  one  of  whom  shall  be  the 
professor  of  hygiene  and  physical  education,  three 
alumni  of  the  college,  Mr.  F.  B.  Pratt,  donor  of  the 
new  field,  and  three  undergraduates  namely,  the 
presidents  of  the  baseball,  football  and  athletic 
associations.  Recently,  delegates  from  various 
football  associations  have  been  in  session  to  revise 
the  rules  of  that  game  and  provide  remedies  and 
checks  against  some  of  its  worst  and  most  brutal 
features,  and  to  make  it  less  dangerous  without  mak- 
ing it  less  lively  and  interesting.  Meanwhile  the 
newspaper  press  is  crying  aloud  for  reform.  And 
the  president  of  our  oldest  and  greatest  university, 
while  testifying  to  the  advantages  which  have  re- 
sulted from  the  great  development  of  athletic  sports 
within  the  past  twenty-five  years,  protests  against 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST    COLLEGE.          259 

the  overtraining  and  overstraining,  the  danger  of 
serious  bodily  injuries,  the  extravagant  expenditure 
of  time  and  money,  the  excessive  excitement  of  in- 
terest and  feeling,  and  the  morbid  craving  for  popu- 
lar applause  and  perchance  pecuniary  profit,  which 
are  attendant  especially  upon  the  intercollegiate 
football  games  at  the  present  time,  and  suggests  sev- 
eral changes  which  would  at  least  diminish  the  ex- 
isting evils,  such  for  example  as  these:  that  there 
should  be  no  freshman  intercollegiate  matches;  no 
games  to  be  played  on  any  but  college  fields,  be- 
longing to  one  of  the  competitors,  in  college  towns; 
no  professional  student  or  player  should  take  part  in 
any  intercollegiate  contests;  no  football  to  be  played 
until  the  rules  are  so  amended  as  to  diminish  the 
number  and  the  violence  of  the  collisions  between 
the  players  and  to  provide  for  the  enforcement  of  the 
rules;  and  intercollegiate  contests  in  anyone  sport 
should  not  take  place  oftener  than  every  other  year. 

If  some  such  changes  as  these  could,  with  one  con- 
sent, be  introduced,  it  would  seem  that  the  evils  at- 
tendant upon  the  games  might  be  avoided  without 
abolishing  the  games  themselves.  And  thus  at 
length  the  ideal  which  President  Walker  suggests 
in  concluding  his  oration  might  perhaps  be  realized, 
art  may  be  elevated  to  a  far  higher  and  nobler 
place  than  it  has  hitherto  reached  in  the  thoughts 
and  affections  of  our  people,  and  the  vision  of  the 
Apollo  may  rise  to  the  view  of  thousands  in  this 
fair  land  as  once  erst  it  rose  before  the  thronging 
multitudes  of  Olympia. 

The  history  of  physical  education  in  Amherst  can- 
not be  written  without  reference  to  the  man  who  has 


260         A   HISTORY    OF    AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

been  the  making  of  it  from  the  beginning,  and  who, 
thanks  to  the  kind  Providence  that  has  preserved 
him  through  all  these  years,  is  still  the  head  and 
front,  the  spirit  and  soul  and  body  of  the  depart- 
ment. Amherst  graduates  cannot  think  of  their  col- 
lege gymnastics  and  athletics  without  being  re- 
minded of  Dr.  Hitchcock;  gymnastics  without  him 
would  be  like  Hamlet's  play  with  Hamlet's  part  left 
out.  Dr.  Hitchcock  is  at  once  the  mainspring  and 
the  regulator  of  the  class  exercises.  Dr.  Hitchcock 
takes  the  gauge  of  every  individual  student  and 
tells  him  how  to  secure  a  sound  mind  in  a  sound  body. 
Dr.  Hitchcock,  by  his  measurements,  has  contributed 
largely  toward  making  gymnastics  a  science  and  an 
art.  Dr.  Hitchcock,  by  his  personal  presence  at  in- 
tercollegiate games,  has  done  much  to  guard  the 
health  and  life  of  the  players,  the  morals  and  man- 
ners of  all  our  students.  Is  any  one  sick,  he  sends 
for  "  the  Doctor. "  Does  any  one  sham  sickness,  "  the 
Doctor  "  is  sure  to  find  him  out.  Is  any  one  morbid 
or  morally  diseased,  "  the  Doctor"  can  furnish  the 
diagnosis  and  prescribe  the  remedy.  Is  the  college 
in  a  disorderly  or  unhealthy  state,  socially  or  spirit- 
ually, no  one  is  so  sure  to  know  it  or  so  wise  to  cure 
it  as  "  the  Doctor. "  u  The  Doctor's"  eye  and  hand  are 
on  every  wheel  and  band  and  cog  of  the  college  ma- 
chine, to  keep  it  in  place  and  in  motion  and  perform- 
ing its  proper  part.  "  The  Doctor" — there  is  only 
one  "  Doctor"  ("  Doc"  for  short)  in  the  vocabulary 
of  Amherst  students — "  the  Doctor"  is  always  pres- 
ent at  morning  prayers  and  the  weekly  prayer  meet- 
ing, and  no  one  takes  part,  his  own  or  perchance 
another's,  in  these  services  more  happily  or  more  ac- 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.          26 1 

ceptably  than  he.  No  member  of  the  faculty  is 
invited  so  frequently  to  local  alumni  associations. 
No  one  is  welcomed  so  heartily,  no  one  is  seen  or 
heard  with  so  much  pleasure,  no  one  anywhere  can 
make  a  more  apt,  pat,  witty,  or  happy  after-dinner 
speech  than  Dr.  Hitchcock.  In  short,  "the  Doctor" 
is  an  omnipresent  spirit  of  health  and  life,  of  cheer- 
fulness and  happiness,  of  good  sense  and  good  will, 
of  all  that  is  good  and  gracious  in  every  place  and 
everything  that  concerns  the  college  with  which  he 
has  so  long  been  connected.  Long  live  Dr.  Hitch- 
cock !  O  king,  live  forever ! 

The  history  of  -our  college  societies  during  the  first 
half  century  of  the  institution  is  written  in  the 
first  edition  of  this  history,  in  President  Hitch- 
cock's "  Reminiscences  of  Amherst  College,"  and 
still  more  fully  in  Mr.  Cutting's  "  Student  Life  in 
Amherst,"  and  those  who  wish  to  read  it  in  detail 
must  go  to  those  sources.  But  these  societies  have 
had  such  a  development  and  attained  such  promi- 
nence and  influence  during  the  last  twenty  years, 
that  I  cannot  conclude  this  history  without  a  brief 
sketch  of  their  growth  and  progress. 

The  two  literary  societies,  Alexandria  and  Athe- 
nae,  which,  from  the  very  beginning,  divided  the  stu- 
dents almost  equally  between  them  and  exerted  an 
influence  on  the  taste  and  style  of  writing  and  speak- 
ing of  their  members  scarcely  second  to  that  of  the 
professors,  and  which,  I  ventured  to  hope,  would  live 
as  long  as  the  college  itself,  have  not  realized  that 
hope.  They  have  become  extinct ;  their  libraries  in 
which  the  members  took  so  much  pride  and  pleas- 
ure have  been  merged  in  the  college  library,  and 


262          A   HISTORY    OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

their  archives  are  preserved  only  in  the  archives  of 
the  college.  The  Society  of  Inquiry  also,  which, 
beginning  with  the  opening  term  of  the  college, 
counted  in  the  roll  of  its  members  the  leading  min- 
isters and  missionaries  of  more  than  fifty  classes,  and 
provided  the  commencement  with  an  almost  uninter- 
rupted succession  of  annual  addresses  from  distin- 
guished orators  and  divines  for  more  than  half  a  cen- 
tury— this  venerable  society  still  exists  and  bears  the 
name  of  the  "Hitchcock  Society  of  Inquiry,"  but  it 
has  dropped  its  distinctive  character,  and  become 
one  of  nearly  a  dozen  societies,  chiefly  Greek  letter 
societies,  for  literary  culture  or  general  social  im- 
provement and  enjoyment.  The  Greek  letter  so- 
cieties have  increased  in  number  and  influence,  till 
almost  all  the  students  belong  to  them.  The  fol- 
lowing is  a  list  of  the  names  of  the  fraternities,  with 
the  dates  of  the  Amherst  Chapters  in  the  order  of 
their  establishment: 

Alpha  Delta  Phi 1837 

Psi  Upsilon            .         .         .         .  •       .         .  1841 

Delta  Kappa  Epsilon    .....  1846 

Delta  Upsilon 1847 

Phi  Beta  Kappa 1853 

Chi  Psi 1864 

Chi  Phi 1873 

Beta  Theta  Pi 1883 

Theta  Delta  Chi 1885 

Phi  Delta  Theta 1888 

Phi  Gamma  Delta 1894 

Five  of  these  societies,  it  will  be  seen,  have  been 
introduced  at  Amherst  within  the  last  twenty  years. 

These  fraternities  are  a  connecting  link  between 
the  colleges  and  universities  of  our  country,  a 


A   HISTORY    OF  AMHERST   COLLEGE.          263 

bond  of  union  between  the  States,  and  a  medium  of 
mutual  acquaintance  and  intercommunion  between 
educated  and  educating  men,  with  many  of  the  ad- 
vantages and  some  of  the  dangers  and  evils  attendant 
upon  Masonic  lodges  and  other  secret  societies. 
The  chapter  houses,  which  some  of  them  rent  and 
others  own,  having  bought  or  built  them  for  them- 
selves, draw  kindred  spirits  together,  give  them  a 
home  in  college  for  which  they  care  and  in  which 
they  feel  a  pleasure  and  a  pride,  and  exert  an  influ- 
ence at  once  powerful  and  salutary  in  the  govern- 
ment, education,  and  social  culture  of  undergraduate 
students,  while  they  furnish  also  a  rendezvous  and 
a  hospitable  reception  to  graduates  when  they  re- 
visit their  alma  mater.  A  band  of  brothers  feeling 
a  lively  interest  in  the  reputation  of  their  chapter 
and  in  the  character  and  conduct  of  all  its  members, 
by  their  social  gatherings,  their  literary  exercises, 
their  mutual  personal  influence,  and  above  all  by  the 
watch  and  care  of  the  older  and  wiser  over  the 
younger,  less  mature,  and  perhaps  less  studious 
members,  they  guard  the  morals,  correct  the  faults, 
stimulate  the  ambition,  cultivate  the  manners  and 
the  taste,  elevate  the  scholarship, — in  a  word  form  the 
character  and  fashion  the  life  of  the  membership, 
and  thus  contribute  no  unimportant  element  to  the 
order,  decorum,  scholarship,  and  culture  of  the 
whole  college.  In  fact,  they  act  an  important  part 
in  that  system  of  self-government  and  training  for 
the  duties  of  citizenship  in  a  free  country  in  which 
Ainherst  is  taking  the  lead  among  American  col- 
leges. President  Seelye  relied  much  on  their  co- 
operation and  influence  in  his  administration.  In 

18 


264          A   HISTORY    OF   AMHERST    COLLEGE. 

his  annual  report  to  the  trustees  in  1887,  he  says: 
"  Besides  other  helps  toward  the  good  work  of  the 
college,  important  service  is  rendered  by  the  soci- 
eties and  the  society  houses.  No  one  now  familiar 
with  the  college  doubts,  so  far  as  I  know,  the  good 
secured  through  the  Greek  letter  societies  as  found 
among  us.  They  are  certainly  well  managed.  Their 
houses  are  well  kept,  and  furnish  pleasant  and  not 
expensive  houses  to  the  students  occupying  them. 
The  rivalry  among  them  is  wholesome,  kept,  as  it 
certainly  seems  to  be,  within  excessive  limits.  The 
tone  of  the  college  is  such  that  loose  ways  in  a  soci- 
ety or  its  members  will  be  a  reproach,  and  college 
sentiment,  so  long  as  it  is  reputable  itself,  will  keep 
them  reputable."  A  distinguished  classmate  of 
President  Seelye,  the  Honorable  Wm.  G.  Ham- 
mond, lately  chancellor  of  the  law  department  in 
Iowa  University,  and  now  dean  of  the  law  school  in 
Washington  University,  Missouri,  in  a  recent  ad- 
dress at  a  convention  at  Amherst  of  one  of  these 
societies,  suggested  the  possibility  and  desirable- 
ness of  a  further  development  of  them  into  some- 
thing like  the  colleges  in  the  English  universities. 
Of  course,  such  societies,  like  everything  else  in 
this  imperfect  world,  are  liable  to  perversion  and 
abuse.  The  purest  stream  may  be  polluted,  and  then 
it  will  breed  sickness  and  death  instead  of  life  and 
health.  Like  our  whole  system  of  self-government, 
they  need  watching,  lest  they  become  nurseries  of 
indolence,  ease,  pleasure,  extravagance,  dissipation, 
vice,  instead  of  the  opposite  virtues.  Their  charac- 
ter and  influence  will  depend  very  much  on  the  char- 
acter of  the  college  in  which  they  are  established. 


A    HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.          265 

In  Amherst  their  influence  has  been  and  is  unques- 
tionably favorable  to  good  morals,  order,  decorum, 
gentlemanly  deportment,  and  scholarly  attainments. 
Nothing  else  would  be  tolerated,  if  for  no  other  rea- 
son, because  anything  else  would  be  unpopular  in 
the  college,  and  so  fatal  to  the  reputation  and  pros- 
perity of  the  society.  It  is  not  denied  that  the  soci- 
eties add  somewhat  to  the  expenses  of  their  mem- 
bers, but  not  largely :  any  large  expenditure  is  extra, 
and  is  provided  for  by  voluntary  contributions  of 
alumni  and  members  that  are  able  to  make  them. 
It  is  acknowledged  that  there  is  in  some  of  the  soci- 
eties too  much  fondness  for  promenades,  dances,  and 
other  amusements,  especially  in  the  winter  term, 
the  Congregational  Lent,  which  is  the  most  appro- 
priate and  favorable  season  for  religious  interest. 
But  drinking  and  carousing  are  not  tolerated  in  the 
society  houses ;  prayer  meetings  and  pastoral  visits 
are  welcomed,  and  there  is  no  better  place  than 
these  houses  for  the  propagation  of  religious  influ- 
ences. It  may  not  be  easy  to  sanctify  and  appropri- 
ate college  athletics  and  college  societies  and  make 
the  most  of  the  best  there  is  in  them,  but  it  is  an  ob- 
ject well  worthy  of  the  most  patient  and  persevering 
effort,  for,  if  the  effort  is  successful,  they  will  be 
among  the  most  potent  influences  for  good  in  the 
college  of  the  future. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

RELIGIOUS  HISTORY  OF  AMHERST — EARLIER  COLLEGES  AND 
UNIVERSITIES,     FOUNDED     FROM    RELIGIOUS    MOTIVES 

DECLINE      OF      RELIGIOUS     SPIRIT — COLLEGES    FOR 

EDUCATION    OF     MINISTERS — REVIVALS    AT    AMHERST 
FROM    1823    TO    1853. 

OUR  readers  are  familiar  with  the  fact  that  Har- 
vard, Yale,  Oxford,  Cambridge,  all  our  older  colleges 
and  universities,  were  founded  by  religious  men, 
from  Christian  motives,  and  largely  for  the  educa- 
tion of  ministers  of  the  Gospel.  But  in  the  latter 
part  of  the  eighteenth  century  religion  and  morality 
suffered  a  sad  decline.  After  the  American  and 
French  Revolutions,  the  dams  and  dikes  seemed  to 
be  swept  away,  and  irreligion,  immorality,  scepti- 
cism, and  infidelity  came  in  like  a  flood.  The  col- 
leges were  of  course  deeply  affected  by  the  prevailing 
spirit  of  unbelief  and  impiety.  In  Yale  College, 
only  eleven  undergraduates  are  known  to  have  been 
professors  of  religion  in  1795  ;  about  four  years  later, 
the  number  was  reduced  to  four  or  five,  and  at  one 
communion  only  a  single  undergraduate  was  present. 
A  graduate  of  the  class  of  1783  remembered  only 
three  professors  of  religion  in  the  class  of  1782,  and 
only  three  or  four  in  several  of  the  other  classes.  In 
the  darkest  time,  just  at  the  close  of  the  century, 
there  was  only  about  one  church  member  to  a  class. 

266 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.          267 

In  Harvard  College  the  facts  were  much  the  same. 
And  the  state  of  things  in  the  churches  was  no  better. 
A  young  man  who  belonged  to  the  church  in  that 
day  was  a  phenomenon — almost  a  miracle. 

But  in  the  nineteenth  century  a  new  era  began  in 
the  religious  history  of  churches  and  colleges — an 
era  of  revivals  and  conversions,  of  home  and  foreign 
missions,  of  active,  earnest,  and  aggressive  piety  in 
ministers  and  Christians,  of  prayer  for  colleges,  a 
great  increase  in  the  number  of  graduates  from  the 
older  colleges  entering  the  ministry  and  the  work 
of  missions,  and  the  establishment,  especially  in  the 
West,  of  new  colleges,  we  might  perhaps  say  a  new 
species  of  Christian  colleges,  by  the  united  and  spon- 
taneous efforts  of  evangelical  Christians  with  more 
express  reference  to  a  general  revival  of  religion  and 
the  conversion  of  the  world.  Amherst  was  among 
the  first  of  these  colleges.  It  was  born  of  the  spirit 
of  revivals  and  missions.  It  is  not  strange,  there- 
fore, that  its  religious  history  has  been  largely  a 
history  of  revivals,  and  our  readers  will  not  think  it 
strange  if  revivals  constitute  the  principal  theme  of 
this  chapter.  A  few  words,  however,  must  first  be 
said  in  regard  to  the  origin  of  the  College  Church. 

During  the  first  four  years,  the  college  attended 
church  with  the  people  of  the  village  in  the  old  meet- 
ing-house, which  then  stood  at  the  top  of  the  hill 
over  against  the  site  of  the  present  college  building, 
very  nearly  on  the  spot  where  the  Woods  cabinet  and 
Lawrence  observatory  are  now  situated.  It  was  in 
1825,  shortly  after  the  grant  of  the  charter,  that  the 
first  measures  were  taken  for  the  establishment  of 
a  separate  college  church.  The  origin  of  this  move- 


268          A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

ment  and  the  motives  of  the  original  members  are 
thus  stated  in  the  church  records: 

"  It  having  appeared  to  many  of  the  pious  friends 
of  Amherst  College  that  the  existence  of  a  church  in 
that  seminary  would  tend  in  a  high  degree  to  pro- 
mote the  great  object  which  its  founders  and  bene- 
factors had  chiefly  in  view,  viz.,  to  advance  the 
kingdom  of  Christ  the  Redeemer,  by  training  many 
pious  youths  for  the  gospel  ministry ;  several  of  the 
students  also  having  expressed  their  desire  to  be 
formed  into  a  church  specially  connected  with  the 
college,  and  the  officers  of  the  college  having  signi- 
fied their  approbation  of  such  measure,  the  subject 
of  founding  a  church  was  laid  before  the  trustees  at 
their  special  meeting  in  April,  1825,  by  the  presi- 
dent. The  trustees,  therefore,  passed  the  following 
resolutions,  viz. :  That  Rev.  Heman  Humphrey, 
D.D.,  Rev.  Joshua  Crosby,  and  Rev.  James  Taylor 
be  a  committee  to  consider  the  expediency  of  estab- 
lishing a  college  church  in  this  institution,  and 
to  proceed  to  form  one  if  they  should  deem  it 
expedient. 

"  The  above-named  committee  assembled  at  Am- 
herst, on  the  seventh  of  March.  1826,  and  after  de- 
liberation on  the  subject  referred  to  their  wisdom 
and  discretion,  they  resolved  themselves  into  an  ec- 
clesiastical council. 

"  The  council  then  voted  to  proceed  to  form  a  church 
on  the  principles  of  the  Congregational  platform,  of 
such  persons  desiring  it  as  should  upon  examination 
be  judged  by  them  to  be  entitled  to  the  privileges  of 
church  membership,  and  should  be  able  heartily  to 
assent  to  the  following  articles  of  faith  and  covenant." 


A    HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.          269 

Then  follow  the  creed  and  covenant,  which  are  in 
substance  the  same  with  those  of  Orthodox  Congre- 
gational churches  generally  in  New  England  at  that 
time. 

Thirty-one  persons,  all  students,  and  members  of 
each  of  the  four  classes,  were  then  "  examined  by  the 
council,  and  having  publicly  assented  to  the  preced- 
ing articles  and  covenant,  after  an  appropriate  ad- 
dress by  Dr.  Humphrey,  were  solemnly  constituted 
the  Church  of  Christ  in  Amherst  College.  The 
Church  was  then  commended  in  prayer  to  the  cov- 
enanted blessings  of  the  one  God,  the  Father,  Son, 
and  Holy  Ghost." 

The  style  of  the  church  is  worthy  of  notice.  Al- 
though founded  upon  the  principles  of  the  Congrega- 
tional platform,  it  has  never  assumed  any  denomina- 
tional name,  but  has  alwa}ys  been  styled  "  The  Church 
of  Christ  in  Amherst  College."  The  form  for  ad- 
mission of  members  to  the  church  was  so  changed 
under  the  presidency  and  pastorate  of  Dr.  Stearns, 
that  members  have  since  been  received  on  their  as- 
sent to  the  Apostles'  creed  and  acceptance  of  the 
doctrines  of  Christianity  as  generally  held  by  our 
Congregational  churches.  The  covenant  remains 
unchanged  to  this  day,  and  Dr.  Burroughs  introduced 
the  practice  of  receiving  into  covenant  and  fellowship 
with  the  college  church  students  who  wished  to  com- 
mune with  us  without  being  dismissed  from  their 
churches  at  home.  Many  have  thus  entered  into 
covenant  with  the  church,  on  the  basis  of  letters  of 
recommendation,  without  dismission,  from  Presby- 
terian, Baptist,  Methodist,  and  other  churches,  not 
excepting  in  a  few  instances  even  the  Catholic 


2/0          A   HISTORY    OF   AMHERST    COLLEGE. 

Church.  This  practice  brought  them  into  more  in- 
timate and  responsible  relations  to  one  another  and 
the  members  of  the  college  church,  and  made  our 
communion  Sabbaths  seasons  of  wider  and  deeper 
interest. 

The  church  remained  almost  a  year  without  a  pas- 
tor, Dr.  Humphrey  acting  meanwhile  as  permanent 
moderator.  In  February,  1827,  after  careful  con- 
sideration and  conference  with  the  trustees  by  com- 
mittees, the  church,  with  the  full  approval  of  the 
trustees  and  the  faculty,  resolved  that  it  was  ex- 
pedient to  complete  its  organization  by  the  election 
and  installation  of  a  pastor,  and  by  a  unanimous  vote 
they  chose  Dr.  Humphrey  their  first  pastor.  The 
installation  took  place  on  the  24th  of  February,  1827, 
in  connection  with  the  dedication  of  the  new  college 
chapel. 

The  first  revival  occurred  in  the  spring  term  of 
1823,  about  a  year  and  a  half  after  the  opening  of  the 
college.  The  whole  }Tear  and  a  half  preceding  had 
been  a  gradual  preparation  for  it.  The  religious 
students  spent  whole  days  in  fasting  and  prayer. 
The  annual  concert  of  prayer  for  colleges  was  held 
for  the  first  time  in  February,  1823.  This  was  ob- 
served in  the  college  and  was  a  day  of  deep  and  sol- 
emn interest.  President  Moore's  address  to  the  stu- 
dents on  this  occasion  was  peculiarly  appropriate  and 
happy.  His  appeal  to  those  who  thought  religion 
unmanly  and  prayer  degrading  was  like  a  nail 
" driven  by  the  master  of  assemblies."  "  Was  Daniel 
ever  more  noble  than  when  he  prayed  in  defiance  of 
King  Darius'  threats?  The  pious  students  were 
among  the  most  important  instruments  in  carrying 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.          2/1 

forward  the  work."1  "They  held  early  morning 
prayer  meetings,  and  would  sometimes,  even  in  study 
hours,  go  into  each  others'  rooms  and  spend  a  few 
moments  in  prayer.  At  no  time  in  the  day  perhaps 
could  a  person  go  into  an  entry  or  pass  into  the 
fourth  story  without  hearing  the  voice  of  prayer  from 
some  room."  * 

Prayer  meetings  were  held  at  nine  o'clock  in  the 
evening  in  each  entry,  also  at  other  times  and  in 
other  places.  Inquiry  meetings  were  held  by  the 
officers  of  the  college.  At  the  result  of  the  revival 
twenty-three  conversions  were  counted,  leaving  only 
thirteen  without  a  personal  faith  and  hope  in  Christ.3 
Among  the  converts  in  this  first  revival  were,  in  the 
senior  class,  Rev.  David  O.  Allen,  the  first  missionary 
among  the  Amherst  graduates,  and  Theophilus  Pack- 
ard, the  first  president,  and  for  many  years,  of  the 
Amherst  Alumni  Association,  and  in  the  junior  class 
.Rev.  Bela  B.  Edwards,  the  distinguished  professor 
of  biblical  literature  in  Andover  -Theological  Semi- 
nary, and  Rev.  Austin  Richards,  D.  D.,  who  received 
the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity  from  Dart- 
mouth and  was  for  thirty  years  pastor  of  the  church 
in  Nashua,  N.  H.  Besides  the  conversion  of  the 
larger  part  of  the  unconverted,  nearly  one-quarter  of 
all  the  members  of  the  college,  the  influence  ex- 
tended to  those  who  were  not  reckoned  as  converts. 
Thus  Edward  Jones,  the  colored  student  of  the  class 
of  1826,  who  was  counted  among  the  unconverted  at 
the  close  of  the  revival,  soon  after  his  graduation 

1  Manuscript  letter  of  Rev.  Theophilus  Packard,  class  of  '23. 
2 Rev.  Justin  Marsh,  class  of  '24, — manuscript  letter. 
3 Manuscript  letter  of  Dr.  A.  Chapin,  class  of  '26. 


2/2          A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST    COLLEGE. 

went  out  as  a  missionary  to  Sierra  Leone  and  became 
one  of  the  leading  educators  of  that  African  state. 
A  powerful  revival  existed  in  the  Academy  and  the 
village  church,  whether  as  effect  or  cause  I  do  not 
know ;  probably  it  was  in  part  both  effect  and  cause 
of  the  religious  interest  in  the  Collegiate  Institution. 

The  next  revival,  the  first  under  the  presidency 
and  pastorate  of  Dr.  Humphrey,  was  in  1827,  of  which 
we  take  the  following  brief  narrative  from  a  com- 
munication to  the  Christian  public,  under  date  of 
May  15,  1827,  by  the  president  himself: 

"  A  year  ago  the  church  was  partially  revived,  and 
a  little  cloud  seemed  for  a  few  days  to  be  hovering 
over  the  seminary,  but  it  soon  disappeared.  This 
year,  the  last  Thursday  of  February,  was  observed 
in  the  usual  manner  as  a  day  of  fasting  and  prayer 
for  the  outpouring  of  God's  Spirit  upon  colleges. 
The  following  week  our  new  chapel  was  dedicated, 
and  a  pastor  was  set  over  our  infant  church.  Both 
these  occasions  were  marked  with  uncommon  inter- 
est and  solemnity.  At  length  there  was  a  shaking 
among  the  dry  bones.  The  impenitent  began  to  be 
serious,  to  be  alarmed,  to  ask,  'What  shall  we  do  to 
be  saved?'  and  then  to  rejoice  in  hope.  By  the  2oth 
of  April,  five  or  six  in  the  freshman  class  appeared 
to  have  a  new  song  put  into  their  mouths,  and  from 
that  time  the  work  advanced  with  surprising  rapidity 
and  power.  Convictions  were  in  general  short,  and, 
in  many  cases,  extremely  pungent.  Of  the  thirty  in 
college  who  perhaps  gave  some  evidence  of  faith  and 
repentance  and  who  are  beginning  to  cherish  hope, 
twenty  at  least  are  supposed  to  have  experienced  re- 
lief in  the  space  of  a  single  week.  'It  is  the  Lord's 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST    COLLEGE.          273 

doings  and  marvellous  in  our  eyes. '  As  this  gracious 
visitation  seemed  to  demand  a  public  acknowledg- 
ment to  the  great  Head  of  the  Church,  before  we 
separated  at  the  close  of  the  term,  a  religious  service 
was  appointed  as  the  last  exercise,  and  a  very  appro- 
priate and  impressive  discourse  was  delivered  in  the 
chapel  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Woodbridge,  of  Hadley." 

The  following  extract  from  a  letter  of  Rev.  A. 
Tobey,  D.D.,  of  the  class  of  '28,  will  show  the  light 
in  which  this  revival  was  viewed  by  the  students : 

"  The  whole  college  was  so  influenced,  that  through 
the  first  of  the  year  it  had  an  entirely  different  aspect. 
Our  class,  then  juniors,  was  essentially  changed  in 
character.  Two  who  had  been  decidedly  sceptical, 
Kidder  and  Winn,  became  decided  and  earnest  Chris- 
tians. Humphrey,1  the  president's  oldest  son,  had 
been  altogether  irreligious,  wild  and  negligent  of  all 
study,  except  in  the  rhetorical  department  and  gen- 
eral literature.  He  became,  for  the  rest  of  his  course, 
correct  in  his  conduct,  serious  and  earnest  as  a  Chris- 
tian, diligent  and  faithful  as  a  student.  The  change 
as  to  interest  in  religious  things  was  also  marked  in 
other  cases,  such  as  Fuller,  Hunt,2  Lothrop,3  and 
Spotswood.4  Among  those  who  joined  the  church  as 
the  fruit  of  this  revival  were  some  of  the  foremost 
men  of  the  class. 

!Rev.  E.  P.  Humphrey,  D.D.,  professor  and  president  in 
Danville  Theological  Seminary. 

2  Rev.  Daniel  Hunt  of  Pomfret,  Conn. 

3  Hon.    E.    H.   Lothrop,    Speaker  of    Michigan    House  of 
Representatives. 

4  Rev.  J.  B.  Spotswood,  D.D.,  long  pastor  of  Presbyterian 
Church  in  New  Castle,  Del. 


274          A    HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

"Of  the  class  before  us  (1827),  I  suppose  McClure,1 
was  the  most  remarkable  instance  of  conversion.  I 
mean  publicly  the  most  remarkable.  Perhaps  the 
conversion  of  Timothy  Dwight,2  really  the  first 
scholar  in  his  class,  may  have  been  as  interesting 
to  those  who  knew  him  well.  In  the  class  after  us 
(1829),  the  most  marked  and  externally  wonderful 
change  was  in  Henry  Lyman,3  who  was  afterward 
the  martyr  missionary,  with  Munson,  killed  by  the 
Battahs  of  Sumatra.  Lyman  had  been  one  of  the 
worst,  of  'the  boldest  in  wickedness,  apparently  defy- 
ing the  authority  of  God ;  but  when  he  came  under 
the  pressure  of  God's  truth  and  spirit,  he  became  as 
ardent  and  bold  for  Christ  as  he  had  before  been  in 
opposition  to  all  good. " 

A  very  full  and  interesting  narrative  of  this  revival 
forms  the  principal  part  of  one  of  the  chapters  in 
Prof.  Jacob  Abbott's  "  Corner-Stone. " 

The  next  year,  viz.,  during  the  latter  part  of  the 
spring  term  of  1828,  another  season  of  revival  was 
enjoyed,  '*  highly  interesting  (in  the  language  of  the 
church  record,  which  is  in  the  handwriting  of  Profes- 
sor Fiske),  although  not  so  rapid  or  powerful  as  that 
of  1827.  But  the  Holy  Spirit  manifestly  descended, 
and  it  was  supposed  that  about  fourteen  members 
of  college  experienced  his  regenerating  influences." 

The  revival  of  1831  occurred  in  the  spring,  like  all 

1  Rev.  A.  W.  McClure,  D.D.,  Secretary  of  American  and 
Foreign  Christian  Union. 

2  Timothy  Dwight,  tutor  and  missionary,  died  in  1838. 

3  For  Mr.    Ly man's   account  of  his  own   conversion   and 
other  incidents  of  this  revival,  see  his  journal  and  letters  in 
the  memoirs  by  his  sister,  Miss  Hannah  Lyman,  principal  of 
Vassar  College. 


OF  THE 

[UNIVERSITY, 


A   HISTORY    OF   AMHERST    COLLEGE.          2/5 

those  which  preceded  it,  but  it  began  earlier  in  the 
term  than  those  of  1827  and  1828.  The  concert  of 
prayer  for  colleges,  the  last  Thursday  of  February, 
prepared  the  way  for  it.  The  sudden  sickness  and 
death  of  a  member  of  the  senior  class  produced  a 
deep  and  solemn  impression.  The  seriousness  began 
in  that  class  and  among  its  leading  members,  not  a 
few  of  whom  were  then  without  hope  in  Christ. 
Deeply  convinced  of  the  vanity  of  the  highest  worldly 
good  and  of  the  folly  and  criminality  of  an  irre- 
ligious life,  these  leading  men,  one  after  another,  re- 
nounced the  world  and  consecrated  themselves  to  the 
service  of  their  Redeemer.  Thus  the  influence  spread 
silently  and  gradually  through  and  from  the  senior 
class,  by  a  law  as  natural  as  that  by  which  water 
runs  down  hill,  and  flowed  through  the  college.  At 
the  communion  in  May,  seven,  and  at  that  in  August, 
nineteen,  members  of  the  college,  twenty-six  in  all, 
were  gathered  into  the  college  church  as  the  fruits 
of  this  rich  harvest  season.  How  many  joined  other 
churches  I  do  not  know,  but,  according  to  my  best 
recollection,  between  thirty  and  forty  were  reckoned 
as  converts.  The  village  church  was  blessed  at  the 
same  time  with  a  revival  of  great  power  and  interest. 
In  the  five  years  beginning  with  1827  and  ending 
with  1831  there  were  three  revivals.  Three  years 
now  succeeded  without  what  is  technically  called  a 
revival,  although  more  than  once  during  the  interval 
the  church  was  revived,  and  during  each  of  the  three 
years  there  were  occasional  conversions  and  additions 
to  the  church  by  confession  at  almost  every  com- 
munion. At  length,  in  1835,  when  no  class  remain- 
ing in  college  had  witnessed  one  of  these  favored 

OF  THE  *         >, 

^UNIVERSITY, 

OF 


2/6          A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

seasons,  the  institution  was  again  blessed  by  a  copious 
outpouring  of  the  Spirit,  which  was  gratefully  ac- 
knowledged, as  was  usual  in  those  days,  in  the  rec- 
ords of  the  faculty  and  of  the  church,  and  as  the  result 
of  which  thirteen  were  added  to  the  church  before 
the  close  of  the  term,  among  whom  were  Clinton 
Clark,  valedictorian  of  the  class  of  '35,  afterward 
tutor;  William  A.  Peabody,  salutatorian  of  the  same 
class,  afterward  professor;  John  Humphrey,  George 
P.  Smith,  Alexander  H.  Bullock,  and  Daniel  W.  Poor. 

There  were  revivals  also  in  the  spring  term  of  1839 
and  in  the  summer  of  1842,  this  last  being  the  only 
one  in  the  whole  history  of  the  college  which  oc- 
curred in  any  other  than  the  spring  term. 

In  his  farewell  address,  which  is  largely  taken  up 
with  the  religious  history  of  the  college,  President 
Humphrey  says:  "  Amherst  College  has  been  blessed 
with  seven  special  revivals  of  religion.  No  class  has 
ever  yet  graduated  without  passing  through  at  least 
one  season  of  spiritual  refreshing.  All  these  revivals 
might  be  called  general,  as  they  changed  the  whole 
face  of  things  throughout  the  college."  And  in  this 
connection  he  gratefully  acknowledges  his  obligation 
to  the  professors,  all  of  whom,  with  a  single  excep- 
tion, were  preachers,  for  preaching  in  rotation  with 
himself  on  the  Sabbath  and  in  the  stated  evening  lec- 
tures. "The  faculty,"  he  says,  "have  always  felt  it 
to  be  no  less  their  duty  than  their  privilege  to  attend 
the  stated  evening  lectures,  and  after  its  close  they 
have  made  it  their  practice  to  retire  immediately  to 
one  of  their  rooms  and  spend  an  hour  together  in 
prayer  and  consultation  upon  the  religious  state  and 
interests  of  the  college. " 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST    COLLEGE.          277 

Less  than  a  year  after  Dr.  Hitchcock's  accession 
to  the  presidency,  during  his  first  winter  term,  there 
was  an  interesting  revival,  which  brought  into  the 
College  Church  many  members  of  the  two  lower 
classes,  and  a  few  from  the  junior  class;  nearly  all 
the  senior  class  were,  already  Christians.  Among 
the  additions  to  the  church  we  cannot  but  notice  the 
names  of  William  C.  Dickinson,  Charles  Vinal  Spear, 
John  W.  Belcher,  William  S.  Clark,  Samuel  Fisk, 
Francis  S.  Howe,  Thomas  Morong,  Henry  J.  Patrick, 
and  Charles  H.  Hartwell.  And  among  the  means 
which  were  employed,  besides  plain  and  pointed 
preaching  on  the  Sabbath  and  at  the  Thursday  even- 
ing lecture,  there  were  special  services,  usually 
preaching  on  Sunday,  Tuesday,  and  Friday  evenings; 
and  in  this  preaching  Professor  Fiske  is  remembered 
as  preaching  with  overwhelming  power,  and  the  more 
remembered,  because  it  was  his  last  work,  as  the 
entry  in  the  church  records  of  this  addition  is  the 
last  of  the  kind,  and  indeed,  with  a  single  exception, 
the  last  of  any  kind  that  is  preserved  in  the  hand- 
writing of  that  honored  and  lamented  professor.  It 
should  be  added,  that  President  Hitchcock  opened 
his  own  house  on  Monday  evenings  for  a  meeting, 
partly  for  inquiry  and  partly  of  conference  on  ques- 
tions of  practical  piety  and  personal  religion,  to  which 
all  students  were  invited,  which  first  filled  the  study 
and  at  length  crowded  the  large  double  parlors,  and 
which  had  a  great  influence  on  the  origin  and  prog- 
ress of  the  religious  interest. 

In  the  winter  and  spring  of  1850,  there  was  another 
general  revival,  in  which  there  were  over  thirty 
"  hopeful  conversions"  among  the  students,  and  which 


278          A    HISTORY    OF   AMHERST    COLLEGE. 

made  no  small  addition  to  the  numbers  and  the 
strength  of  the  church.  Including  some  from  the 
families  of  the  faculty,  there  were  thirty-three  per- 
sons who  together  presented  themselves  at  the  altar, 
almost  filling  the  broad  aisle  of  the  chapel,  all  in  the 
bloom  of  youth,  and  who  now  for  the  first  time  dedi- 
cated themselves  by  their  voluntary  consecration  to 
the  service  of  their  Maker,  Redeemer  and  Sanctifier. 

The  year  1853  is  reckoned  among  our  seasons  of 
spiritual  harvest,  although  the  religious  interest  was 
not  so  deep  or  so  general,  nor  the  ingathering  so 
abundant  as  in  some  other  revivals. 

And  lest  the  emphasis  which  we  have  given  to 
these  seasons  of  revival  should  be  misinterpreted,  it 
should  be  here  remarked  that  the  records  of  the 
church  show  that  there  were  at  this  period  additions 
to  the  church  by  confession  every  year  and  at  almost 
every  communion.  Thus  at  the  communion  in  April, 

1849,  just  about  a  year  before  the  great  revival  of 

1850,  eight  persons  among  the  leading  scholars  and 
men  of  influence  in  their  respective  classes,  three  of 
them  since  distinguished  educators  in  New  England, 
made  a  public  profession  of  their  faith  in  Christ.     At 
the  communion  next  preceding,  in  February,  1849, 
one  person,  then  a  member  of  the  sophomore  class, 
stood  up  alone  and  avouched  the  Lord  to  be  his  God 
thenceforth  and  forever.     And  these  sentences  from 
a  letter  written  in  September,  1870,  from  the  shores 
of   the   Mediterranean,  show   what  most   impressed 
this  young  man  on  entering  college  and  what  kind 
of  influences  brought  him  from  a  wilderness  of  error 
and  unbelief  into  the  fold  of  Christ :     "  First  impres- 
sions are  lasting.     And  my  first  impression  of  Am- 


A   HISTORY    OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.          279 

herst  College  has  never  left  me.  We  (H.  and  myself) 
had  come  from  Ohio  by  the  way  of  Lake  Erie  and  the 
Canal,  and  seen  not  a  little  of  rough  and  profane  so- 
ciety on  the  way.  What  we  witnessed  on  entering 
the  college  was  such  a  contrast  to  all  this  and  indeed 
to  all  we  had  been  accustomed  to  in  our  own  previ- 
ous observation  and  experience,  that  it  seemed  as  if 
we  had  passed  into  another  world.  The  solemn, 
cheerful,  and  intellectual  air  of  the  president  and 
professors  at  morning  and  evening  prayers,  and  the 
religious  tone,  not  of  voice  but  of  heart  and  life,  in 
the  majority  of  the  students  led  me  into  a  new  train 
of  thought,  gave  me  new  views,  and  made  me  ere 
long  a  new  man." 

The  freshman  who  was  thus  led  to  be  a  believer 
in  Christ,  the  sophomore  who  thus  stood  up  alone  to 
declare  himself  on  the  Lord's  side,  is  now  the  presi- 
dent of  the  Syrian  College  in  Beirut,  who  is  leading 
on  the  combined  assault  of  learning  and  the  religion 
of  Christ  Jesus  against  Mohammedanism  in  its  strong- 
holds. In  the  same  letter  he  adds  his  testimony  also 
to  the  power  and  genuineness  of  revivals  in  Amherst 
College.  "These  revivals,"  he  says,  "stamped  upon 
my  mind  the  conviction  that  Amherst  College  be- 
lieved in  the  reality  of  the  religion  of  Christ.  There 
was  no  diminution  of  the  usual  amount  of  study; 
hence  the  excitement — for  there  was  great  excitement 
— was  rational,  the  heart  and  the  intellect  moved  on 
together.  Twenty  years  have  proven  that  those 
who  then  embraced  the  truth  were  sincere;  for  they 
are  found  many  of  them  to-day,  in  various  parts  of 
the  world,  spending  their  maturer  years  in  preaching 
Christ." 

19 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

RELIGIOUS  HISTORY  CONTINUED — SEVEN  REVIVALS  IN 
THE  FIRST  TWELVE  YEARS  OF  PRESIDENT  STEARNS* 
ADMINISTRATION — IN  THE  REMAINING  YEARS  TWO 

IN     PRESIDENT     SEELYE'S    TWO CHANGE     IN    THE 

FORM     AND     MANNER,    NOT     IN     THE    -SPIRIT — CAUSE 
OF    THE     CHANGE — REMEDY. 

DURING  the  first  twelve  years  of  Dr.  Stearns*  presi- 
dency there  were  seven  seasons  of  special  religious 
interest,  thus  averaging  more  than  one  for  every  two 
years.  At  no  time  during  this  period  was  there  an 
interval  of  more  than  two  years  without  such  a  sea- 
son, and  in  one  instance  two  successive  years  were 
thus  blessed. 

The  years  1855,  1857,  1858,  1860,  1862,  1864,  and 
1866,  have  usually  been  reckoned  as  years  of  revival, 
although  there  was  no  very  broad  line  of  demarca- 
tion between  some  of  these  years  and  some  of  those 
that  have  not  been  so  reckoned ;  for  there  was  not 
one  of  these  latter  years  in  which  there  was  not  some 
quickening  in  the  winter  term,  and  I  believe  none  in 
which  there  were  not  in  the  course  of  the  year  some 
hopeful  conversions. 

Of  the  revival  in  1855,  as  of  those  a  few  years 
earlier,  we  have  the  testimony  of  a  college  president 
in  the  Levant,  who  was  a  member  of  the  senior  class 

280 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.          28 1 

at  that  time.1  We  have  space  only  for  a,  few  sen- 
tences: 

"We  had  some  noon  class  meetings  which  will 
never  be  forgotten  by  those  who  attended  them,  when 
we  wept  and  prayed  together  until  it  seemed  we  were 
bound  together  by  such  cords  of  love  and  sympathy  as 
unite  saints  and  angels  in  heaven.  This  may  seem 
a  strong  expression.  It  was  exactly  what  we  felt, 
and  no  one  who  has  not  been  in  a  college  revival  can 
realize  the  truth  of  it.  There  can  be  nothing  like  it 
out  of  college. 

"  The  genuineness  of  this  feeling  was  manifested 
when  we  came  to  the  usually  exciting  class  elec- 
tions. Our  meeting  was  free  from  any  exhibition  of 
selfishness  or  party  feeling.  Class  Day  lasted  from 
eight  o'clock  one  day  until  half-past  six  the  next  day. 
It  commenced  with  a  social  prayer  meeting  and  closed 
at  morning  prayers  when  we  all  came  into  the  chapel, 
and  the  president  gave  us  his  blessing. 

"When  we  entered  college,  out  of  sixty-three  in 
our  class  only  twenty-two  were  Christians.  When 
we  graduated,  out  of  fifty-four,  forty-eight  were  pro- 
fessors of  religion.  In  all  there  were  twenty-four 
conversions  in  our  class  during  our  college  course." 

Several  of  the  best  scholars  and  leading  men  in 
the  senior  class,  at  the  beginning  of  the  year,  were 
not  only  without  hope  in  Christ,  but  opposed  to  evan- 
gelical and  personal  religion.  One  of  these  excited 
great  interest.  The  writer  of  this  history  had  re- 
peated interviews  with  him,  and  followed  up  personal 

*Rev.  George  Washburn,  President  of  Robert  College,  in 
a  letter  based  on  a  journal  kept  at  that  time. 


282          A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

conversation  with  written  appeals.  Never  have  I 
seen  such  bitterness  of  feeling,  coupled  with  such  ac- 
knowledged and  utter  wretchedness.  He  cursed  the 
day  of  his  birth,  and  was  almost  ready  to  curse  his 
best  friends,  the  name,  sacred  in  the  history  of  mis- 
sions, which  he  bore,  the  parents  that  gave  him  birth, 
and  the  God  who  made  him  for  a  life  of  sin  and  mis- 
ery. Like  Saul  of  Tarsus,  he  breathed  out  threaten- 
ings  and  slaughter  against  the  church.  But  like  Saul 
of  Tarsus  it  was  at  length  said  of  him — "  Behold,  he 
prayeth."  The  next  morning  his  whole  appearance, 
as  well  as  character  and  spirit,  was  changed.  From 
that  time  he  labored  to  build  up  what  he  before 
sought  to  destroy.  Three  years  later  this  Saul  of 
Tarsus  was  with  us,  an  officer  of  college,  a  co-laborei 
in  the  revival  of  1858 — a  very  Paul  the  Apostle  in 
the  boldness,  force  of  reasoning,  and  fervor  of  elo- 
quence with  which  he  prayed  men  to  be  reconciled 
to  God.  And  now  he  is  one  of  the  most  able,  earnest 
and  useful  among  the  pastors  in  our  Congregational 
churches. 

The  revival  of  1858  exceeded  in  power  and  interest 
any  other  in  the  period  now  under  review,  if  not  any 
other  in  the  whole  history  of  the  college.  We  have 
space  only  to  record  the  results  as  they  were  given 
to  the  public  by  President  Stearns  not  long  after  the 
event : 

"  Nearly  three-quarters  of  our  number  were  previ- 
ously professors  of  religion,  about  twenty  of  them 
having  taken  their  stand  publicly  on  the  side  of 
Christ  some  months  before.  Of  the  remainder  be- 
tween forty  and  fifty  have  been  hopefully  converted 
during  the  term,  leaving  less  than  twenty  in  the 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  283 

whole  college  undecided.  Of  the  senior  class  but 
three  or  four  remain  who  have  not  commenced  the 
Christian  life;  of  the  junior  class,  but  one,  and  he  an 
inquirer;  of  the  sophomore  class,  four  or  five;  of  the 
freshmen,  nine  or  ten.  The  reformation  of  character 
and  manners  was  not  less  remarkable  than  the  re- 
newal of  hearts." 

The  )Tear  1866  was  a  memorable  year  in  the  relig- 
ious history  of  the  college,  exceeding  even  1858  in 
the  number  of  those  who  began  a  new  Christian  life, 
and  hardly  surpassed  by  it  in  the  deep  interest  of  the 
scenes  and  events  of  the  revival,  though  differing 
much  from  that  season  in  the  apparently  spontaneous 
beginning  and  quiet  progress  of  the  work. 

Since  1866  revivals  have  been  less  frequent  and 
less  powerful  in  Amherst,  as  also  in  other  colleges 
and  churches,  than  they  had  been  in  the  previous 
half-century.  But  in  the  last  spring  term  of  the  last 
year  of  his  life,  as  we  have  already  said  in  a  previous 
chapter,  the  prayers  of  President  Stearns  were  an- 
swered and  his  labors  were  blessed  in  what  he  con- 
sidered, and  we  also  felt  to  be,  perhaps  the  greatest 
and  best  of  all  the  revivals  that  had  crowned  his 
college  work  and  one  of  the  greatest  and  best  in  the 
whole  history  of  the  college.  On  the  last  Sunday 
that  he  officiated,  and  at  the  last  sacrament  of  the 
supper  that  he  administered,  he  received  to  the  com- 
munion the  largest  number  of  young  men  that  he  had 
ever  admitted  at  one  time  to  the  college  church,  thus 
setting  the  seal  to  his  testimony  to  the  reality  and 
worth  of  revivals  of  religion  and  bringing  to  a  fitting 
close  the  work  of  a  long,  useful,  and  happy  life. 

In  1878,  the  second  year  of  President  Seelye's  ad- 


284         A   HISTORY   OF  AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

ministration,  the  records  of  the  college  church  show 
the  admission  of  twenty-seven  members  by  profession 
at  one  communion,  and  of  three  members  at  each  of 
three  subsequent  communions.  Four  years  later,  in 
1882,  there  was  a  season  of  especial  religious  interest, 
which  he  thus  gratefully  acknowledges  in  his  annual 
report  to  the  trustees : 

"  We  have  had  many  blessings  during  the  year, 
the  chief  of  which  has  been  a  deep  and  pervasive  re- 
ligious revival  during  the  winter  term,  whose  power 
has  been  seen  with  only  blessed  results  through  the 
year.  Without  any  undue  excitement  and  without 
any  interruption  to  our  college  work,  the  whole  col- 
lege has  been  evidently  lifted  thereby  to  a  higher 
plane  of  both  moral  and  religious  action." 

It  appears  from  the  records  of  the  church  that  six- 
teen persons  were  admitted  to  its  membership  as  the 
immediate  result  of  this  revival,  and  nearly  as  many 
more  at  other  communions  in  the  course  of  the  year. 
In  none  of  his  subsequent  reports  does  President  Seel- 
ye  speak  of  anything  that  he  calls  a  revival,  and  as  it 
has  already  been  said  that  revivals  were  less  fre- 
quent in  the  last  half  of  President  Stearns'  adminis- 
tration, so  we  must  acknowledge  that  they  were  less 
frequent  and  less  powerful  under  the  administration 
of  President  Seelye.  There  were  times  of  refreshing 
and  rejoicing  every  year  in  connection  with  the  day 
of  prayer  for  colleges.  The  church  was  revived  and 
strengthened,  and  additions  were  made  from  time  to 
time  to  its  members  as  well  as  its  strength.  But 
there  were  not  such  seasons  of  universal  thoughtful- 
ness  and  seriousness,  of  anxiety  and  deep  conviction 
of  sin  on  the  part  of  the  irreligious,  of  earnest  and 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  285 

importunate  prayer  among  Christians,  of  numerous 
conversions  and  great  rejoicings  as  are  technically 
called  revivals.  And  a  corresponding  change  had 
taken  place  also  in  the  churches.  The  time  was 
when,  in  our  Congregational  and  Presbyterian 
churches,  it  was  expected  that  the  children  and  youth 
in  Christian  families  would  grow  up  out  of  the  church 
and  without  personal  religion.  And  when  they  came 
into  the  church  it  would  be  only  after  a  long  period 
of  deep  distress  and  conviction  of  sin,  followed  by 
marvellous  light  and  peace  and  joy.  Such  angular 
and  spasmodic  conversions,  as  they  have  been  some- 
times called,  would,  of  course,  cause  wonder  and  joy 
in  the  congregation,  and  spreading  through  the  com- 
munity would  bring  large  numbers  into  the  church, 
until  they  came  to  be  regarded  as  the  chief  if  not 
the  indispensable  means  of  its  growth  and  prosper- 
ity. Indeed,  there  were  times  when  conversions  that 
were  not  attended  by  such  feeling  and  excitement 
were  looked  on  with  suspicion  as  hardly  genuine. 
These  views  have  gradually  changed  and  at  length 
passed  away.  Under  the  influence  of  Christian  nur- 
ture and  training  the  children  of  Christian  parents 
are  now  expected  to  grow  up  as  Christians,  to  enter 
the  church  in  early  youth  or  childhood,  and  it  is 
deemed  a  matter  of  little  moment  whether  they  know 
the  time  when  they  began  the  Christian  life.  Of 
course,  in  such  churches  with  such  views  revivals 
have  greatly  changed  their  character,  or  ceased  to 
exist.  In  Christian  families  the  very  materials  are 
wanting  for  such  revivals,  for  those  spasmodic  con- 
versions do  not  occur,  and  there  will  be  revivals  only 
in  the  etymological  and  strictly  proper  sense  of  the 


286          A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

word,  as  a  renewal  and  quickening  or  a  development 
and  manifestation  of  the  Christian  life  in  the  church, 
together  with  the  bringing  in  of  those  who  have 
never  been  in  the  fold  of  Christ  or,  as  prodigal  sons, 
have  wandered  away  from  it.  Such  a  change  as  we 
have  imperfectly  described  has  gradually  come  over 
our  Christian  colleges.  In  the  earlier  years  of  the 
history  of  Amherst,  such  young  men  as  Bela  B.  Ed- 
wards, Alexander  McClure,  Henry  Lyman,  Edward 
P.  Humphrey,  Jonathan  Brace,  Ebenezer  Burgess, 
Asa  S.  Fiske,  Charles  Hart  well,  etc.,  came  to  college 
from  Christian  families  but  without  hope  in  Christ, 
without  personal  piety,  some  of  them  bitterly  hostile 
to  evangelical  and  experimental  religion,  and  con- 
tinued so  until  almost  the  close  of  their  college 
course.  And  when  in  their  senior  year  it  was  an- 
nounced that,  perhaps  after  prolonged  darkness  and 
distress  or  violent  opposition,  they  had  been  con- 
verted and  come  out  positive  and  strong  on  the  Lord's 
side,  of  course  it  produced  a  prodigious  impression, 
and  large  numbers  followed  in  their  footsteps.  But 
the  same  men  coming  to  college  in  these  days  would 
in  all  probability  have  come  as  members  of  the 
church,  and  although  their  influence  would  have  been 
great  for  good,  they  could  not  have  been  the  means 
of  so  powerful  an  impression,  and  the  very  materials 
for  such  a  revival  would  be  wanting. 

A  large  proportion  of  those  who  come  to  Amherst 
from  Christian  families  in  these  days  come  as  mem- 
bers of  Christian  churches.  Indeed,  there  has  been 
slow  and  gradual  increase  in  the  percentage  of  church 
members  at  their  entrance,  almost  from  the  begin- 
ning. The  percentage  of  -church  members  in  the 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  287 

class  of  '86  at  their  entrance  was  54;  in  the  class  of 
'87  it  was  50;  in  the  class  of  '88  it  was  68;  in  the 
class  of  '89  it  was  67.  This  large  percentage  of 
church  members  at  their  entrance,  together  with  an 
increasing  number  of  students  who  come  from  fam- 
ilies that  are  not  religious  as  the  college  grows  older 
and  larger,  is  probably  the  principal  cause  of  the 
change  which  we  have  noted  in  regard  to  revivals. 

It  is  a  change  of  form  and  manner  rather  than  of 
principle  and  spirit.  Then  there  was  more  of  excite- 
ment and  intensity  of  feeling;  now  there  is  more  of 
Christian  work  and  associated  action.  Then  revivals 
and  conversions  were  more  matters  of  observation 
and  remark;  now  they  excite  less  attention,  won- 
der and  admiration ;  while  there  is  perhaps  more 
consistency,  steadfastness  and  perseverance,  certainly 
there  never  was  a  time  when  the  whole  college,  the 
trustees,  the  faculty,  and  the  great  body  of  the  stu- 
dents were  more  decidedly  and  positively  Christian 
in  their  faith  and  practice;  strong  in  faith,  rich  in 
good  works,  steadfast  and  immovable,  always  abound- 
ing in  the  work  of  the  Lord,  forasmuch  as  they  know 
that  their  labor  is  not  in  vain  in  the  Lord. 

There  are  other  causes  at  work,  which  are  unfa- 
vorable to  revivals,  such  as  the  growth  of  the  college, 
the  increasing  number  of  the  faculty  and  the  stu- 
dents, the  number  and  variety  of  elective  studies, 
which  make  the  faculty  and  students  no  longer 
the  unit  they  once  were  in  their  instruction  and  their 
moral  and  religious  influence,  the  weakening  to  some 
extent,  though  by  no  means  so  much  as  in  the  larger 
universities,  of  the  tie  which  unites  classmates  to 
each  other  and  once  made  it  easy  to  propagate  relig- 


288          A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

ious  interest  through  classes — all  these  are  adverse 
circumstances. 

There  are  two  causes,  which,  although  they  are 
good  and  useful  in  themselves,  tend  to  impair  the 
feeling  of  personal  responsibility  which  the  faculty 
of  Amherst  College  used  to  feel  for  the  religious 
character  of  the  students.  The  faculty  used  to  have 
charge  of  the  Thursday  evening  meeting  and  of  the 
special  meetings  on  other  evenings  in  times  of  re- 
vival. But  this  responsibility  is  now  divided  be- 
tween a  few  of  the  professors  and  the  Christian  stu- 
dents, especially  the  members  of  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association.  Moreover,  a  large  proportion 
of  the  faculty  used  to  take  their  turn  in  preaching  in 
the  college  pulpit.  This  duty  is  now  devolved  on 
the  pastor  or  associate  pastor  and  the  distinguished 
preachers  from  abroad,  who  are  invited  to  occupy  the 
pulpit  from  time  to  time.  Of  course,  there  are  great 
advantages  in  both  these  arrangements.  But  they 
have  also  their  incidental  dangers  and  temptations, 
especially  to  shirk  responsibility  for  the  religious 
education  of  the  students. 

There  are  other  temptations  and  dangers  for  which 
we  cannot  shake  off  the  responsibility.  The  grand 
central  doctrines  of  Christianity,  the  law  and  the  gos- 
pel, the  crucifixion  and  resurrection  of  Christ,  atone- 
ment and  redemption,  the  exceeding  sinfulness  of  sin, 
and  the  great  salvation  are  not  preached  now  in  church 
and  college  with  the  simplicity,  pungency,  and  power 
which  made  them  so  potent  in  the  revivals  in  the 
first  half  of  the  present  century,  and  which  still  make 
them  powerful  in  the  hands  of  such  evangelists  as 
Mr.  Mills  and  Mr.  Moody.  The  applications  of 


A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  289 

Christianity  to  society,  government,  and  the  common 
affairs  of  this  life  have  never  been  urged  from  the 
pulpit  with  so  much  clearness  and  force  as  they  now 
are,  and  organizations  are  multiplied  for  carrying 
the  gospel  to  the  masses  of  the  poor,  sinning  and 
suffering  in  our  own  land  and  to  the  perishing  mil- 
lions of  heathendom.  And  this  is  well.  We  are 
proud  of  our  Beecher  and  our  Parkhurst  and  our  more 
recent  and  less  famous  graduates  who  are  the  pastors 
of  institutional  churches,  who  preach  the  gospel  to 
the  poor,  who  live  the  gospel  in  the  vilest  and  most 
wretched  parts  of  our  great  cities,  as  Christ  came  into 
our  sinful  and  miserable  world  to  seek  and  to  save 
that  which  was  lost.  We  admire  their  patriotism 
and  charity  and  philanthropy.  We  honor  their  self- 
sacrifice  and  moral  courage  and  martyr  spirit  and 
heroic  deeds  which  speak  louder  than  words.  But 
are  we  not  in  danger  of  forgetting  that  all  men  are 
lost,  that  this  is  a  lost  world,  that  there  is  another 
world  of  righteous  and  eternal  retribution,  that  or- 
ganizations are  only  machines  which  cannot  save 
souls,  and  that  men  must  be  converted,  sanctified, 
and  saved  as  individuals,  not  as  communities  or  na- 
tions? Is  there  not  still  greater  danger  that  the 
pressure  of  business  and  pleasure  on  the  churches 
and  of  study  and  amusement  in  the  colleges  will  drive 
out  sober  thought  and  serious  attention  to  personal 
religion.  In  those  times  of  great  and  blessed  re- 
vivals, there  was  one  term  set  apart  and  consecrated 
especially  to  the  religious  interest  of  the  colleges. 
The  winter  term,  in  itself  peculiarly  adapted  to  such 
use,  was  the  appointed  season  for  the  day  of  prayer 
for  colleges,  and  was  widely,  we  might  say  generally, 


290          A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

devoted  to  that  service,  both  in  the  colleges  and  the 
churches,  and  that  was  the  season  in  which  almost 
all  those  glorious  revivals  occurred  which  so  glad- 
dened the  hearts  of  Christian  parents  and  strength- 
ened the  hands  of  ministers  and  missionaries  through 
the  land  and  the  world.  But  now  foot-ball  has  taken 
possession  of  the  first  term,  and  base-ball  of  the  third 
term,  and  the  junior  promenade  and  the  like  social 
pleasures,  and  concerts  and  lecture  courses,  are  en- 
croaching on  the  second  term,  and  no  time  is  left  for 
special  attention  to  that  which  is  the  chief  concern  of 
individual  students  and  the  vital  interest  of  the  whole 
college.  Must  this  be  so?  Ought  it  to  be  so?  We 
freely  admit  that  we  cannot  expect  just  such  revivals 
as  were  the  joy  and  strength  of  the  college  in  its  first 
half-century.  But  why  may  we  not  have  a  portion 
at  least  of  the  winter  term  as  a  longer  day  of  prayer, 
like  a  more  spiritual  and  better  Lent,  consecrated 
and  set  apart,  not  to  cease  from  study,  but  from  or- 
dinary recreations  and  amusements,  to  stop  and  think 
on  higher  and  better  themes,  to  pray  and  labor  for 
those  things  which  it  chiefly  concerns  us  to  know  and 
to  do,  to  give  to  spiritual  truths  and  eternal  realities 
the  place  and  weight  to  which  in  their  nature  they 
are  manifestly  entitled? 

According  to  our  last  general  catalogue  (in  1892- 
93),  there  were  3,428  alumni  of  Amherst,  of  whom 
1,164  have  been  ordained  clergymen  and  120  foreign 
missionaries.  These  statistics  show  that  more  than 
one-third  of  the  entire  number  of  Amherst  graduates 
have  been  ordained  clergymen.  The  percentage 
of  ministers,  however,  during  the  fifty  years  in- 
cluded in  this  history  (1840  to  1889  inclusive),  has 


A    HISTORY    OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  2QI 

been  gradually  diminishing.  In  the  first  quarter 
century  of  that  period  (1840  to  1864),  it  was  32  per 
cent;  in  the  second  quarter  (1866  to  1889  inclusive), 
it  was  17  per  cent;  and  in  the  last  five  years  of  that 
period  (1885  to  1889),  about  15  per  cent  of  graduates 
and  non-graduates  entered  the  ministry.1 

This  was  to  be  expected  in  a  college  which  was 
founded  expressly  for  the  education  of  ministers,  but 
which  has  grown  to  dimensions  altogether  exceeding 
the  highest  expectations  of  the  founders.  In  one 
point  of  view,  of  course,  it  is  to  be  regretted ;  in  an- 
other, it  is  a  matter  of  rejoicing.  We  cannot  but 
regret  that  more  of  our  graduates  do  not  become 
ministers;  we  cannot  but  rejoice  that  so  many  of 
them  are  Christian  laymen,  workers  for  Christ  in 
business,  in  the  professions,  in  all  the  common  walks 
of  life.  Would  God,  they  were  all  either  the  one  or 
the  other,  and  in  our  day  we  can  hardly  tell  for  which 
the  demand  is  the  more  imperative. 

Doubtless  the  Master  would  say :  "  These  ought  ye 
to  have  done  and  not  to  leave  the  other  undone." 
Must  we  always  go  from  one  extreme  to  another? 
Why  may  we  not  be  more  like  the  primitive  church, 
into  which  large  numbers  were  gathered  on  a  single 
day,  and  yet  the  Lord  continued  to  add  to  them  daily 

1  Our  readers  who  have  read  the  article  of  Professor  Pea- 
body  in  The  Forum  for  September,  1894,  will  see  that  the  per- 
centage of  Amherst  graduates  entering  the  ministry  in  his 
last  period  is  considerably  less.  But  his  last  period  is  the  last 
five  years  up  to  date,  while  that  in  our  text  is  the  last  five  years 
of  President  Seelye's  administration.  At  Amherst  a  good 
many  graduates  enter  the  ministry  after  several  years  of 
teaching  or  other  ways  of  raising  money. 


2Q2         A   HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

of  such  as  were  being  saved?  But  while  we  thus 
recognize  the  fact  that  there  are  diversities  of  opera- 
tions but  the  same  Spirit,  we  need  above  all  a  deep 
feeling  of  our  entire  dependence  on  that  Spirit  for 
his  regenerating,  sanctifying,  and  saving  power  and 
presence.  "  Ye  shall  receive  power,  after  that  the 
Holy  Ghost  is  come  upon  you,  and  ye  shall  be  wit- 
nesses unto  me  in  Jerusalem,  and  in  all  Judea,  and 
in  Samaria,  and  unto  the  uttermost  part  of  the  earth." 


€lSE 
OF  THE 
IVERSITY 
A 


APPENDIX. 


DONATIONS  RECEIVED  BEFORE  THE  OPENING 
OP  THE  COLLEGE. 

The  establishment  of  Amherst  College  was  made 
possible  by  a  subscription  known  as  the  Charity 
Fund,  amounting  to  $52,244.  When  the  first  build- 
ing, South  College,  was  erected,  inhabitants  of  Am- 
herst, Pelham,  Leverett,  Belchertown,  Hadley,  and 
even  more  distant  towns,  gave  stone,  lime,  sand, 
lumber,  and  other  materials,  also  labor,  provisions 
for  the  workmen,  and  the  use  of  teams  and  tools. 
Much  of  the  furniture  for  the  rooms  was  obtained  in 
this  way ;  and  there  were  also  some  gifts  of  money 
especially  for  the  erection  of  this  building. 


DONATIONS    RECEIVED    IN    PRESIDENT  MOORE'S 
ADMINISTRATION,    1821-23. 

The  chief  donation  of  this  period  is  known  as  the 
Thirty  Thousand  Dollar  Subscription.  There  were 
various  small  gifts  of  money  and  articles,  including  a 
bell,  several  pieces  of  apparatus,  and  books  for  the 
library. 

293 


294  APPENDIX. 

DONATIONS  AND   BEQUESTS   RECEIVED  IN  PRES- 
IDENT  HUMPHREY'S  ADMINISTRATION,  1823-45. 

Bequest  of  Adam  Johnson  for  a  chapel $4,000 

Subscription  of  1832 50,000 

John  Tappan,  for  essays  on  temperance 500 

Subscription  used  for  buying  books about        3, 500 

Subscription  of  1840  to  1845  ;  this  includes  $10,000  of 
the  Sears  Foundation,  $15,000  to  be  given  for  a 
professorship,  and  $11,000  known  to  be  set  down 
in  wills  of  persons  then  still  living 100,000 

$158,000 


DONATIONS  AND   BEQUESTS  RECEIVED   IN  PRES- 
IDENT HITCHCOCK'S  ADMINISTRATION,   1845-54. 

Williston  Professorship  of  Rhetoric  and  Oratory. . . .  $20,000 
Graves  Professorship  of  the  Greek  Language  and 

Literature 20,000 

Hitchcock  Professorship  of  Natural  Theology  and 

Geology 22,000 

Donation  from  the  State 25,000 

Sears  Foundation 12,000 

The  Woods  Cabinet  and  Observatory 9,000 

Subscription  for  the  Library  Building  and  for  books.  15,000 

Appleton  Zoological  Cabinet 10,000 

$133,000 

Here  should  be  mentioned,  also,  Professor  Adams'  Zoolog- 
ical Collection,  Professor  Shepard's  Cabinet  of  Minerals,  Pres- 
ident Hitchcock's  Ichnological  Cabinet,  and  the  collection  of 
Indian  relics  given  by  Edward  Hitchcock,  Jr. 


DONATIONS  AND   BEQUESTS  RECEIVED  IN  PRESI- 
DENT  STEARNS'   ADMINISTRATION,    1854-76. 

Donation  for  the  Sweetser  Lecture-Room,  1855 $1,000 

Donation  for  the  Nineveh  Gallery,*  1857 967 

Subscriptions  for  East  College,  1857,  seq 5,ooo 

Donation  for  Williston  Hall,  1857 16,000 

Hitchcock  Scholarships,  1858 10,000 

*  Building  and  contents  cost  $1,167,  °f  which  only  $200  was 
paid  out  of  the  College  Treasury. 


APPENDIX. 


Legacy  of  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Moore,  1858  ................  $9,  175 

Legacy  of  Asahel  Adams,  1858  .....................  4,  500 

Subscriptions  for  the  Gymnasium,  1859  .............  3,55o 

Donation  of  Messrs.  J.  C.  Baldwin  and  A.  Lilly,  1859.  4,000 

Subscriptions  of  Alumni  for  the  Library,  1859,  seq.  .  7,000 

Legacy  of  Jonathan  Phillips,*  1860  ..................  6,  500 

Grants  by  the  Legislature,  1861-3  ..................  27,  500 

Walker  Professorship  of  Mathematics  and  Astronomy, 

1861  ...........................................  25,000 

Walker  Instructorships,  etc.,  1862  ..................  10,000 

Walker  Prizes,  1862-3  ..............................  2,000 

Legacy  of  Richard  Bond  for  General  Treasury,  1863.  4,000 

Donation  of  David  Sears  for  Library  Building,*  1863.  8,000 

Walker  Building  Fund  (Dr.  Walker  and  others)  ,  *  1  864.  140,  ooo 

Donation  for  College  Church  (W.  F.  Stearns),  1864.*  46,000 

Samuel  Green  Professorship,  1864  ..................  25,000 

Walker  Legacy,  1866  ..............................  144,976 

Donation  of  George  H.  Gilbert  for  books,*  1866  .....  7,000 

Legacy  of  Dr.  Barrett  for  Gymnasium,  1870  .........  5,  ooo 

Mr.  Williston  for  Instruction  in  English  Literature, 

1869-71  ........................................  3,ooo 

Donation  of  Mr.  Williston  at  Semi-Centennial,  1871.  50,000 
Donation  of  Mr.  Howe,  Chime  of  Bells  and  Scholar- 

ship, -1871  ......................................  5,000 

Increase  of  Charity  Fund  f  .........................  10,000 

Increase  of  Stimson  Fund  ..........................  8,000 

Mr.  Hitchcock  to  increase  his  Professorship  and 

Scholarships,  1.869  .............................  20,000 

Recent  Scholarships  ...............................  35,  ooo 

Prizes  not  mentioned  above  ........................  12,000 

Increase  of  Collections  in  Natural  History  J  .........  8,000 

Illustrations  and  Ornaments  in  Classical  Recitation- 

Rooms  .........................................  2,  500 

Bust  of  Dr.  Hitchcock  and  other  Ornamental  Statuary  i,  500 

Hallock  Park,  1868  .................................  2,000 

Mr.  Hitchcock,  for  Scholarships  and  Kindred  Pur- 

poses, 1872  ....................................  100,000 

Total  ..................................  $769,  168 

*  With  income  added.  f  Added  to  the  principal. 

\  Estimated  at  $12,000  by  the  curator  (Prof.  E.  Hitchcock), 
but  about  $4,000  was  paid  for  some  of  them  out  of  State 
grants  already  mentioned.  Among  the  donations  are  the 
megatherium,  by  Joshua  Bates,  Esq.,  of  London  ($500)  ;  the 
skeleton  and  skin  of  the  gorilla,  by  Rev.  William  Walker, 
of  the  Gaboon  mission  (then  worth  in  the  market  $2,000). 
Some  $600  was  paid  to  Dr.  E.  Hitchcock,  Jr.,  for  specimens 
in  Comparative  Osteology. 


296  APPENDIX. 

DONATIONS  AND   BEQUESTS   RECEIVED   IN   PRES- 
IDENT  SEELYE'S   ADMINISTRATION,  1876-90. 

Subscriptions  to  pay  Shepard  note  : 

Mrs.  Samuel  Williston $2,500.00 

E.  H.  Sawyer 2,000.00 

W.  W.  Scarborough 2,000.00 

F.  Gilbert 250.00 

A.  L.   Williston 2,000.00 

John  C.  Parsons 400.00 

S.  B.  Chittenden 2,000.00 

James  B.  Jermain 2,000.00 

Harding,  Gray  &  Dewey 100.00 

William  Whiting 5,000.00 

James  Y.  Yates 500.00 

John  A.  Burnham 3,000.00 

Anonymous 2,000.00 

E.  A.  Goodnow 1,000.00 

—  $24,750.00 

Collected  by  Professor   Mather  for  the   Mather 

Collection  of  Art : 

J.  H.  Southworth $2, 500.00 

G.  H.  Whitcomb 250.00 

Roland  Mather 100.00 

Mrs.  Charlotte  A.  Johnson 50.00 

James  H.  Welles'  Estate 276.42 

—  3,176.42 

•Lucius  J.  Knowles,  legacy  for  Art  Collection 5,000.00 

Subscription  for  addition  to  the  Library  building : 

Aaron  Bagg $500.00 

James  Y.  Yates 250.00 

W.  W.  Scarborough 2,000.00 

W.  O.  Grover 1,000.00 

James  B.  Jermain 8,000.00 

John  A.  Burnham 2,000.00 

13,750.00 

Dr.  Eben  Alden  for  care  of  Library  . .  5,000.00 

Joel  Giles  for  books  for  Library 50,595.00 

C.  M.  Pratt  toward  Gymnasium 35,275.00 

Toward  furnishing  Gymnasium : 

Frederick  Billings $5,000.00 

W.  W.  Scarborough 1,000.00 

6,000.00 


APPENDIX.  297 

For  new  Mineralogical  Cabinet : 

John  A.  Burnham $5,000.00 

W.  W.  Scarborough 2,000.00 

$7,000.00 

Jonathan  Brace  legacy $2,000.00 

William  Reed  legacy   ($5,000  was  re- 
ceived in  1858)  5,000.00 

Asa  Otis  legacy    25,000.00 

Williston  legacy  28,615.48 

Mrs.  V.  G.   Stone  Professorship 50,000.00 

Henry  Winkley                                 50,000.00 

Frederick  Billings                            50,000.00 

D.  Willis  James  Fund 100,000.00 

Seelye  Fund,  given  by  D.  W.  James.  .  100,000.00 

Winkley  Legacy 30,000.00 

Mrs.  Chester  W.  Chapin 50,000.00 

H.  T.  Morgan's  bequest 80,556.72 

Dr.  William  J.  Walker's  estate 11,357.89 

Frederick  Marquand  and  his  estate. ..  15,000.00 

Frederick  Billings,  for  general  use...  5,000.00 

Welles  Southworth  gift 5,000.00 

Class  of  1880  Fund,  for  general  use 365.00 

Latin  Prize  Fund  2, 524.93 

Class  of  1878  Latin  Prize  Fund 200.00 

Parmly    Billings    Senior    Latin    Prize 

Fund 1,100.00 

Chemical  Fund  of  1861 1,010.96 

Thomas  McGraw,  for  apparatus  for 

astronomical  department  150.00 

L.  Hamilton  McCormick,  for  new 

clock  in  chapel 650.00 

—  613,430.98 

Chemical  Laboratory  Building  Fund : 

E.  A.  Strong $1,400.00 

J.  E.  Sanford 500.00 

D.  Willis  James 10,000.00 

J.  S.  Brayton 500.00 

H.  D.  Hyde 2, 500.00 

E.  W.  Peet loo.oo 

G.  H.  Whitcomb 5,000.00 

20,  ooo .  oo 

E.  W.  Bond,  toward  rebuilding  Walker 

Hall i,  ooo.  oo 

Gift  of  Robt.  M.  Woods  and  sister 5,630.66 

Pratt  Athletic  Field  and  grand  stand, 

with   grading  and  furnishings,  by 

F.  B.  Pratt 25,446. 57 


298  APPENDIX. 

Scholarships  : 

James  S.  Seymour $5,000.00 

Quincy  Tufts 2,000.00 

Mrs.  S.  P.  Miller 1,000.00 

Class  oi7  1856 1,000.00 

Dolly  Coleman  Blake 842.  n 

Class  of  1858 1,000.00 

Class  of  1869 1,000.00 

David  and  G.  Henry  Whitcomb. . .  12,000.00 

Moses  Day 5,000.00 

Rev.  Henry  S.  Green 1,000.00 

Class  of  1865 1,008.31 

Class  of  1845 987.98 

Classes  of  1829,  1835,  1838,  1866, 

1867,  and  1870 502.26 

Class  of  1862  (Henry  Gridley 

Scholarship) 2,000.00 

Mrs.  Valeria  G.  Stone 25,000.00 

Mrs.  Alice  T.  March  (Thomas  Hall 

Scholarship) 1,000.00 

Lucius  J.  Knowles 3,000.00 

Charles  Thayer  Reed 2, 500.00 

$65 , 840. 66 


Grand  total $826, 398. 60 


A  HISTORY   OF  AMHERST   COLLEGE. 


299 


NUMBER  OF  THE  FACULTY   AND  STUDENTS  YEAR  BY 
YEAR.* 


Year. 

Faculty. 

Seniors. 

Juniors. 

Sopho- 
mores. 

Fresh- 
men. 

Total  of 
Students. 

1821-22  

4 

3 

6 

19 

31 

59 

1822-23.  •  •  • 

6 

5 

21 

32 

40 

98 

1823-24  

6 

*9 

29 

41 

37 

126 

1824-25.  .  .  . 

8 

25 

41 

31 

39 

136 

1825-26  

8 

33 

24 

45 

50 

152 

1826-27  

ii 

24 

40 

55 

51 

170 

1827-28  

9 

42 

47 

53 

57 

199 

1828-29  

8 

40 

47 

72 

67 

226 

1829-30  

10 

32 

74 

47 

53 

207 

1830-31  

10 

61 

40 

50 

37 

188 

1831-32.  .  .  . 

8 

39 

40 

50 

60 

189 

1832-33.... 

10 

4i 

50 

64 

72 

227 

1833-34  

10 

44 

50 

60 

85 

239 

1834-35.... 

12 

44 

52 

77 

70 

243 

1835-36.... 

12 

4i 

63 

72 

76 

252 

1836-37.... 

13 

60 

50 

73 

76 

259 

1837-38.... 

12 

40 

59 

57 

50 

206 

1838-39.... 

14 

57 

48 

47 

37 

189 

1839-40.... 

12 

47 

43 

4i 

38 

169 

1840-41.  .  .  . 

12 

30 

35 

40 

52 

157 

1841-42.  .  .  . 

12 

28 

27 

43 

44 

142 

1842-43  

12 

21 

34 

42 

32 

129 

1843-44  

9 

30 

33 

29 

32 

124 

1844-45  

II 

30 

27 

30 

34 

121 

1845-46  

9 

26 

23 

35 

34 

118 

1846-47.  .  .  . 

9 

19 

30 

36 

35 

120 

1847-48  

ii 

29 

36 

35 

50 

150 

1848-49.  .  .  . 

12 

33 

29 

52 

52 

166 

1849-50  

12 

25 

43 

55 

53 

176 

1850-51  

II 

41 

52 

49 

40 

182 

1851-52.... 

II 

43 

43 

4i 

63 

190 

1852-53.... 

12 

42 

35 

61 

57 

195 

1853-54  

II 

33 

54 

58 

56 

201 

1854-55.... 

18 

53 

59 

59 

66 

237 

1855-56.... 

15 

49 

50 

65 

54 

2X8 

1856-57.... 

15 

45 

60 

60 

64 

229 

1857-58.... 

13 

52 

49 

54 

66 

221 

*  Special  and  graduate  students  are  not  included. 


300 


A    HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 


NUMBER  OF  THE  FACULTY  AND  STUDENTS  YEAR   BY 
YEAR  (Continued} .* 


Year. 

Faculty. 

Seniors. 

Juniors. 

Sopho- 
mores. 

Fresh- 
men. 

Total  of 
Students. 

1858-59.... 

16 

47 

53 

61 

74 

235 

1859-60.  .  .  . 

16 

48 

56 

71 

67 

242 

1860-61  

17 

51 

56 

60 

53 

220 

1861-62  

17 

58 

49 

50 

78 

235 

1862-63  

18 

42 

42 

76 

60 

220 

1863-64  

16 

30 

58 

54 

50 

192 

1864-65  

14 

57 

56 

64 

^45 

222 

1865-66.... 

17 

54 

51 

44 

54 

203 

1866-67  

16 

49 

44 

62 

70 

225 

1867-68.... 

16 

4i 

61 

69 

73 

244 

1868-69.... 

18 

57 

58 

7i 

65 

251 

1869-70.  .  .  . 

19 

53 

64 

63 

75 

255 

1870-71.  .  .  . 

20 

65 

49 

76 

7i 

26l 

1871-72.... 

21 

49 

65 

68 

62 

244 

1872-73.... 

29 

59 

67 

60 

82 

268 

1873-74.... 

20 

66 

57 

86 

94 

303 

1874-75.... 

23 

50 

80 

^87 

108 

325 

1875-76.... 

21 

74 

79 

98 

84 

335 

1876-77.... 

20 

79 

86 

80 

75 

320 

1877-78.... 

23 

82 

77 

81 

85 

325 

1878-79.-.. 

23 

76 

75 

90 

92 

333 

1879-80  

23 

72 

83 

79 

in 

345 

1880-81  

24 

79 

69 

107 

82 

337 

1881-82  

27 

65 

96 

86 

96 

343 

1882-83  

28 

94 

79 

97 

82 

352 

1883-84  

28 

81 

86 

83 

7i 

321 

1884-85  

31 

83 

78 

70 

103 

334 

1885-86  

32 

77 

74 

IOI 

105 

352 

1886-87.... 

31 

70 

98 

94 

68 

330 

1887-88  

32 

90 

99 

66 

93 

348 

1888-89  

31 

98 

70 

94 

93 

355 

1889-90  

30 

66 

86 

88 

103 

343 

1890-91  .... 

32 

84 

90 

100 

73 

347 

1891-92.  .  .  . 

32 

84 

91 

70 

84 

329 

1892-93.  .  .  . 

34 

88 

73 

87 

134 

382 

1893-94.... 

36 

70 

80 

119 

134 

403 

1894-95.... 

36 

81 

124 

119 

no 

434 

*  Special  and  graduate  students  are  not  included. 


A   HISTORY   OF  AMHERST   COLLEGE. 


301 


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302 


A   HISTORY   OF  AMHERST   COLLEGE. 


MEMBERSHIP  OF  FRATERNITIES  IN  RECENT  YEARS. 


1889. 

1890. 

1891. 

1892. 

1893. 

1894. 

1895- 

A.  A.  $...  . 

32 

36 

36 

37 

38 

1Q 

40 

*.  Y  

37 

33 

38 

34 

39 

42 

37 

A.  K.  E 

37 

34 

35 

47 

42 

16 

•3-2 

A.   T  

33 

34 

31 

25 

29 

35 

35 

X.  * 

25 

22 

18 

22 

22 

24 

2Q 

X.   4>  

36 

33 

33 

29 

2Q 

20 

^6 

B.  9.  n  

26 

28 

32 

32 

34 

34 

37 

e.  A.  x 

35 

33 

34 

31 

32 

34 

1^ 

4>.  A.  e  

29 

27 

?8 

?6 

31 

34 

38 

4>.  T.  A.    (Established  1893)  .  . 

10 

10 

Total  in  fraternities.. 

289 

280 

785 

783 

2q6 

317 

320 

Non-society  men  

69 

fy 

67 

51 

9° 

115 

114 

Total  in  college  

358 

•54.4. 

-3C2 

a-34 

-386 

412 

414. 

TUITION  FEES  PER  ANNUM  FROM  1821  TO  1895. 


1821  to  1833 

$10  to  (i>n* 

1864  to  1868 

$4^ 

1833  to  1834  

27! 

1868  to  1871  

75 

1834  to  1836  

30 

1871  to  1875  

90 

1836  to  1847 

33 

1875  to  1886  

IOO 

1847  to  18^^ 

10 

1886  to 

no 

1855  to  1864 

<i6 

*This  included  room-rent,  lights,  etc.,  and  varied  accord- 
ing to  the  room  occupied. 

f  Beginning  with  1833,  the  tuition  fee  paid  for  nothing  but 
tuition. 


INDEX. 


ABBOTT,  Jacob,  tutor,  43;  pro- 
fessor, 60;  mentioned,  62,  274 

Absences,  allowance,  241 

Academy,  turning  the  college 
into,  considered,  no 

Adams,  Charles  B.,  tutor,  97; 
Professor,  gives  his  zoological 
collection,  116;  death,  135;  his 
sons  in  the  Civil  War,  184; 
mentioned,  125,  134 

Admission,  requisites  in  1822,  31; 
by  certificate,  236 

Alden,  Dr.  Ebenezer,  gift,  144; 
gift  for  the  library,  231;  men- 
tioned, 104,  117 

Alden,  Rev.  Edmund  K.,  D.D., 
mentioned,  206 

Alexandrian  Society,  organized, 
33;  library,  32,  34,  72;  end,  261 

Allen,  Rev.  David  O.,  claim  to 
be  first  graduate,  39;  men- 
tioned, 271 

Allen,  Francis  R.,  architect  of 
library,  230 

Allen,  Dr.  Nathan,  mentioned, 
162;  quoted,  163,  164 

Alumni,  subscription  by  those  at 
Andover,  79;  criticise  the  col- 
lege publicly,  98;  number,  290 

American  Education  Society, 
mentioned,  21 

Amherst,  town,  aid  of  inhabi- 
tants, 17;  relations  with  the 
college,  87;  starting  place  for 
subscriptions,  123 

Academy,  rise  and  ca- 
reer, 3-5 ;  its  trustees  plan  the 
Charity  Institution,  6;  call  a 


convention  to  consider  their 
plan,  10;  do  not  oppose  re- 
moval of  Williams  College,  14; 
mentioned,  36,  47 

Amherst  System  described,  238- 
4i 

Anti-slavery  excitement,  90-92; 
societies  of  students,  91 

Appleton  Zoological  Cabinet, 
donation  obtained,  127,  129; 
erected,  146 

Appointments  for  exhibitions, 
dissatisfaction  with,  92-96 

Athenian  Society,  organized,  33; 
library,  32,  34,  72;  end,  261 

Athletic  Board,  258 

contests,  254;  value  and 

needs,  257,  258 

Ayres,  Rowland,  tutor,  134 

BAKER,  Lieut.  Enos,  mentioned, 
16 

Baldwin,  Moses  H.,  gift,  144 

Band,  college,  74 

Banister,  Hon.  William  B.,  men- 
tioned, 79,  105 

Barnum,  Rev.  H.  N.,  mentioned, 

193 

Bartlett,  Homer,  mentioned,  52 
Barrett  Gymnasium,  built,  150 
Barrett,  Dr.  Benjamin,  gifts  and 

bequest    to    gymnasium,    151; 

gift  for  improving  grounds,  159 
Baseball  ground  laid  out,  159 
Bathing  establishment,  provided 

by  students,  74 
Beecher,     Rev.     Henry     Ward, 

mentioned,  150,  193,  289 


304 


INDEX. 


Belcher,    John    W.,    mentioned, 

277 

Bell  and  Tower,  28 
Bernard,  Gov.   Francis,  charters 

Queen's  College,  I 
Billings,  Dea.  Elisha,  mentioned, 

3 

Billings,  Parmly,  professorship, 
252 n. 

Blodgett,  Rev.  Edward,  mention- 
ed, 94  n. 

Boltwood,  Lucius,  mentioned,  63 

Boltwood,  Lucius  M.,  librarian, 

134 

Bowles,  Samuel,  mentioned,  151 

Brace,  Jonathan,  mentioned,  286 

Buildings,  first  stone,  124;  in  Dr. 
Stearns'  presidency,  145 

Bullock,  Hon.  Alexander  H.t 
presides  at  the  Semi-Centennial 
Celebration,  193;  establishes  a 
scholarship,  197  ;/. ;  mentioned, 
130,  162,  276 

Bullock,  Hon.  Rufus,  gives  a 
telescope,  121,  130 

Burgess,  Ebenezer,  mentioned, 
286 

Burr,  Dr.,  lectures  on  natural 
theology,  171 

Burroughs,  Rev.  George  S., 
D.D.,  appointed  to  the  Samuel 
Green  professorship,  213;  be- 
comes president  of  Wabash 
College,  213;  mentioned,  269 

Burt,  William  S.,  mentioned,  32 

CALHOUN,  Hon.  William  B.,  ad- 
dress of  commemoration,  120; 
lecturer,  134;  mentioned,  104, 
H5,  H7 

Catalogue,  first,  30;  reissued,  31; 
for  1822-23,  32;  for  1824-25, 
43;  for  1825-26,  62 

Chapel,  considered,  69;  built,  70; 
cost,  75  n.\  renovated,  158 

Chapin,  Dr.  Alonzo,  quoted,  33, 
271 

Charity  Fund,  devoted  to  bene- 
ficiaries, 99  n. 

Charity  Institution,   founded,  6; 


constitution,  6;  convention  to 
consider  the  project,  10;  loca- 
tion decided,  10,  n ;  subscrip- 
tion raised,  12;  further  meas- 
ures taken,  15;  committee  on 
site  and  building  appointed, 
16;  building  erected,  17-19; 
corner-stone  laid,  20;  relations 
with  education  societies,  21; 
first  president  elected,  22; 
course  of  study  to  be  thorough, 
23;  dedication  and  inaugura- 
tion exercises,  25;  opened  for 
students,  26;  first  catalogue, 
30;  first  anniversary  exercises, 
36 

Charter,  first  application  to  Leg- 
islature, 46;  second  applica- 
tion, 47-51;  third  application, 
5I~5^;  granted,  58;  peculiar 
provisions,  58;  organization  of 
trustees  under,  59 

Chemistry,  apparatus  provided, 
29;  first  lectures,  30;  depart- 
ment removed  to  Williston 
Hall,  1 68;  receives  a  grant  from 
the  Walker  Legacy  Fund,  169; 
new  laboratory,  233 

Child,  Linus,  mentioned,  171 

Chip  day,  33 

Church,  college,  building  erected, 
154-58;  preachers  in,  210;  es- 
tablishment, 267-69;  member- 
ship, 269;  first  pastor  installed, 
270 

Church,  WTest  Parish,  withdrawal 
of  college  from,  68 

Civil  War,  enlistments  of  profes- 
sors and  students,  183;  grad- 
uates and  undergraduates  who 
served  in,  185;  number  of  offi- 
cers, 1 86;  deaths  in  the  service, 
187;  undergraduates  who  died 
in  the  service  enrolled  as  grad- 
uates, 188 

Clark,  Alvan,  mentioned,  121, 
130 

Clark,  Clinton,  mentioned,  276 

Clark,  Rev.  Daniel  A.,  men- 
tioned, 20,  21,  25  n. 


INDEX. 


305 


Clark,  Hon.  Lincoln,  quoted,  42 
Clark,  Prof.  William  8.,  sub- 
scription to  build  gymnasium, 
150;  resigns,  160;  service  in 
the  Civil  War,  169,  183;  re- 
ported killed,  184;  mentioned, 
125,  134,  146,  150,  168,  169, 
277 

Clarke,  George  C.,  mentioned,  193 
Classical    department,    changes, 

171-73 

Coburn,  Rev.  David  N.,  men- 
tioned, 94  «. 

Coe,  Elijah  L.,  mentioned,  32 

Coleman,  Lyman,  instructor,  134 

College  Hall  purchased,  159 

Collegiate  Charity  Institution. 
See  Charity  Institution. 

Colton,  Simeon,  mentioned,  4 

Commencement,  afternoon  ses- 
sion abolished,  83;  time 
changed,  101 

Condit,  Rev.  Jonathan  B.,  ap- 
pointed professor,  64;  men- 
tioned, 105 

Connecticut  valley,  college  want- 
ed in,  i,  15 

Course  of  study  in  1822,  31;  in 
1824-25,  43;  parallel  course, 
64-68;  in  1837-38,  97 

Cowles,  Dr.  Rufus,  mentioned, 
16 

Cowles,  Prof.  William  L.,  men- 
tioned, 72  n.,  215 

Cressey,  Rev.  Timothy  Robin- 
son, and  his  sons  in  the  Civil 
War,  187;  quoted,  46 

Crew,  wins  intercollegiate  race, 

254 
Crosby,  Rev.  Joshua,  mentioned, 

16,  20,  21,  25,  268 
Crowell,   Prof.  E.  P.,  his  labors 

for  the  college,  222 

DEBT  of  the  college,  99,  102,  117, 

118 

Degree  of  A.  B.,  grades,  238 
Derby,  Hasket,  mentioned,  130 
Dickinson,   Hon.   Edward,  men- 
tioned, 153,  228 


Dickinson,  Col.  Elijah,  men- 
tioned, 16 

Dickinson,  Enos,  gives  the  Nine- 
veh Gallery,  146 

Dickinson,  Samuel  Fowler,  men- 
tioned, 12,  16,  21 

Dickinson,  William  A.,  mention- 
ed, 153,  154,  155,  158,  191, 
227,  228,  229,  232 

Dickinson,  William  C.,  tutor, 
134;  mentioned,  277 

Donations,  meeting  for  com- 
memorating, 120;  list,  293-98 

Dwight,  Timothy,  mentioned, 
274 

Dwight,  Rev.  Dr.,  quoted,  225, 
226 

EAST  and  West  Parishes,  feud, 
47  n. 

East  College  erected,  149 

Eaton,  Prof.  Amos,  mentioned, 
30,  35 

Eaton,  J.  H.,  instructor  in 
chemistry,  169 

Edwards,  Prof.  Bela  B.,  chair- 
man of  committee  on  library 
building,  123;  death,  124; 
mentioned,  121,  271,  286; 
quoted,  37 

Edwards,  Henry,  gift,  144; 
mentioned,  105,  117, 162 

Edwards,  Henry  L.,  tutor,  134 

Elective  studies,  175,  235 

Ely,  Rev.  Alfred,  D.D.,  men- 
tioned, 117 

Emerson,  Benjamin  K.,  ap- 
pointed instructor  in  geology, 
171;  appointed  professor,  171 

Emerson,  John   M.,  tutor,  134 

Estabrook,  Joseph,  elected  pro- 
fessor, 24;  inaugurated,  25; 
librarian,  30 

Esty,  William  C.,  appointed  in- 
structor, 165;  professor,  165; 
mentioned,  226 

Examinations,  system  changed, 
237 

Exercise,  required,  252;  effect, 
255 


306 


INDEX. 


Expenses  of  students,  33,  84,  88, 
118 

FACULTY,  fine  provided  for,  82  ; 
assume  financial  management, 
106,    109;  benefited  by  David 
Sears,  116;  increase,  285; leave 
of  absence,  236 
Field,  Lucius,  tutor,  30 
Fayerweather  bequest,  233 
Field,    Rev.    Pindar,   first  presi- 
dent of  the  Athenian  Society, 
33;  graduation,  36;  mentioned, 
27,  34,  194 

Field,  Rev.  Thomas  P.,  tutor, 
97;  professor,  127;  resigns, 
173;  Samuel  Green  professor, 
212;  resigns,  213;  mentioned, 

134 

Fines,  81,  82 

Fisk,  Rev.  Samuel,  death  in  the 
Civil  War,  185;  mentioned, 

.277 

Fiske,  Asa  S.,  mentioned,  286 

Fiske,  Rev.  John,  D.D.,  men- 
tioned, 16,  55, 117 

Fiske,  Rev.  Nathan  W.,  Pro- 
fessor of  Latin  and  Greek, 
43;  transferred  to  chair  of 
philosophy,  64;  character,  134; 
mentioned,  62,  79,  82,  134, 
277;  quoted,  113,  274 

Fiske,  Samuel,  tutor,  134 

Fletcher,  William  I.,  services  as 
librarian,  223 

Foster,  Hon.  Alfred  D.,  men- 
tioned, 105,  117 

Fowler,  Prof.  William  C.,  resig- 
nation, 103 

Franklin  County  Association  of 
Ministers,  suggests  a  college  at 
Amherst,  2 

Fraternities,  Greek  letter,  when 
established,  262;  influence, 
262-65;  number  of  members, 
302 

Freshman  levee,  133 

Frink,  Prof.  Henry  A.,  mention- 
ed, 215 

Fuller,  Edward  J.,  mentioned, 2 73 


GARMAN,  Prof.  Charles  E.,  men- 
tioned, 215 

General  Court,  See  Legislature, 
Massachusetts. 

Genung,  Prof.  John F.,  mention- 
ed, 215 

Gifts  in  President  Stearns'  ad- 
ministration, 141;  in  President 
Seelye's  administration,  233 

Gilbert  Museum,  beginning,  127 

Giles,  Joel, gift  for  the  library, 231 

Gillett,  Hon.  Edward  B.,  men- 
tioned, 151,  155 

Goose  joke,  45 

Gorham,  William  O. ,  case  of, 
94-96 

Government,  system  revised,  97; 
the  Amherst  System,  239-41; 
its  success,  243-45 

Graves,  Col.  Rufus,  labors  to  ex- 
tend the  usefulness  of  Amherst 
Academy,  5;  financier,  63; 
mentioned,  3,  21,  30,  54,  118 

Graves  Professorship,  116,  118 

Gray,  Henry,  mentioned,  21,  32 

Green,  Lewis,  tutor,   134 

Green,  Samuel,  Professorship 
founded,  166;  provision  that  it 
be  held  by  Dr.  Stearns,  200; 
the  professor  associate  pastor, 
210;  views  of  President  Seelye 
on,  210  n. 

Grennell,  George,  mentioned,  12, 
117 

Grounds,  grading,  73;  extensive 
improvements,  159,  234 

Grout,  Rev.  Jonathan,  mention- 
ed, 16,  20 

Gun  captured  at  Newbern,  189 

Gymnasium,  provided  by  stu- 
dents, 74;  building  provided, 
150;  Pratt  Gymnasium  built, 
231 

HACKETT,  Prof.  H.  B.,  men- 
tioned, 195 

Hallock,  Gerard  H.,  mentioned, 
36,  50,  121  . 

Hallock,  Leavitt,  gives  Hallock 
Park,  160 


INDEX. 


307 


Hammond,  Hon.  William  G., 
mentioned,  264 

Hampshire  County,  memorial  of 
1762, I 

Hardy,  Hon.  Alpheus,  gift, 
144;  establishes  prizes,  145; 
mentioned,  151,  153,  155, 
200 

Harris,  E.  P.,  appointed  profes- 
sor of  chemistry,  169 

Hartwell,  Charles  H.,  mention- 
ed, 277,  286 

Harvard  College,  mentioned,  2, 
49,  63,  87,  267 

Hathorne,  George,  architect  of 
Walker  Hall,  153 

Haven,  Prof.  Joseph,  mentioned, 
125,  134 

Hayden,  gift  for  improving 
grounds,  159 

Henshaw,  Dr.  Marshall,  tutor, 
134;  lecturer,  218;  recommend- 
ed by  President  Seelye,  219; 
resigns,  220 

Hitchcock,  Rev.  Calvin,  men- 
tioned, 79 

Hitchcock,  Charles  H.,  appointed 
lecturer  on  zoology,  171 

Hitchcock,  Rev.  Edward,  D.D., 
appointed  professor,  60;  elect- 
ed president,  106;  solicits  a 
building  from  Mr.  Sears,  in; 
his  scientific  standing  benefits 
the  college,  in;  mode  of  an- 
nouncing donations,  119;  pro- 
poses to  resign,  122;  sent  to 
Europe,  122;  gives  his  collec- 
tion of  fossil  footmarks,  126; 
applies  for  part  of  Samuel  Ap- 
pleton's  educational  bequest, 
127;  resigns  the  presidency, 
128;  value  of  his  labors,  131, 
135;  his  conciliatory  policy, 
132;  books,  136;  death,  137; 
labors  for  Mount  Holyoke 
Seminary,  138;  his  part  in  the 
Nineveh  gallery,  147;  opens 
his  house  for  religious  confer- 
ence, 277;  mentioned,  62,  72, 
84,  92  n.,  105,  146,  170; 


quoted,  96,  112-15,  116-18, 
119,  121,  129,  147,  150 

Hitchcock,  Edward,  M.D.,  gives 
his  collection  of  Indian  relics, 
127;.  appointed  professor  of 
physical  culture,  162;  services 
and  popularity,  259-61;  men- 
tioned, 191,  232,  253 

Hitchcock,  Rev.  Roswell  D., 
D.D.,  tutor,  97;  suggests  the 
Semi-Centennial  Celebration, 
190;  proposes  class  scholar- 
ships, 196;  address  to  Presi- 
dent Seelye  on  his  inaugura- 
tion, 206;  mentioned,  193 

Hitchcock,  Samuel  A.,  joins  in 
founding  a  professorship,  113, 
116,  1 18;  gives  $10,000,  144 

Hitchcock  Professorship,  title 
changed  to  Geology  and  Zool- 
ogy, 171 

Holmes,  Rev.  Sylvester,  men- 
tioned, 79 

Hooker,  Hon.  John,  mentioned, 

47 

Hooker,  John  W.,  M.D.,  ap- 
pointed professor  of  physical 
culture,  162 

House  of  students,  74 

Howe,  Francis  S.,  mentioned, 
277 

Howe,  George,  gives  chime  of 
bells,  158,  188 

Howe,  Rev.  Nathaniel,  mention- 
ed, 20 

Howe,  Sidney  Walker,  death  in 
the  Civil  War,  189 

Howland,  George,  tutor,  134 

Howland,  William,  tutor,  134 

Hubbard,  Hon.  Samuel,  speech 
in  favor  of  incorporation,  48 

Humphrey,  Rev.  Edward  P., 
D.D.,  mentioned,  192,  193, 
273,  286 

Humphrey,  Rev.  Heman,  D.D., 
elected  president,  41;  in- 
augural address,  42;  labors, 
43;  compared  with  President 
Moore,  44;  goose  joke,  45; 
speech  for  incorporation,  52; 


308 


INDEX. 


criticised  by  alumni,  g6;  re- 
signs, 103;  inaugurates  his  suc- 
cessor, 106;  farewell  address, 
107;  mentioned, 21,  23,  35,  121; 
quoted,  19,  26,  45,  53,  54-57, 
68,  70,  107,  272,  276 
Humphrey,  John,  tutor,  97; 

mentioned,  276 

Humphrey,  Leonard,  tutor,  134 
Hunt,   Rev.  Daniel,  mentioned, 

273 
Huntington,  Bishop,  mentioned, 

193. 

Hutchins, Waldo,  mentioned,  193 
Hyde,     Rev.    William    A.,    his 

sons  in  the  Civil  War,  188 

IDE.  Rev.  Jacob,  D.D.,  men- 
tioned, 117 

Insurance  on  college  buildings 
227,  228 

Investigation  by  committee  of 
the  Massachusetts  House  of 
Representatives,  53-57 

JEWETT,  George  B.,  tutor,  97; 
obtains  subscriptions  for  li- 
brary building,  124;  professor, 
124;  mentioned,  125,  134 

Johnson,  Adam,  mentioned,  69; 
will  established,  71 

Jones,  Edward,  mentioned,  271 

KIDDER,  Corbin,  mentioned,  273 
King,    Rev.    Jonas,   mentioned, 
30,  62 

LATHROP,  Hon.  Samuel,  men- 
tioned, 79 

Lawrence,  Hon.  Abbott,  gift, 
112;  mentioned,  121 

Laws  for  the  college  adopted, 
60;  modern  substitute,  242 

Leavitt,  Rev.  Jonathan,  offered 
a  professorship,  105 

Legislature,  Massachusetts,  peti- 
tioned for  aid,  75,  76,  78,  100, 
114;  grants  $25,000,  114; 
other  gifts,  142 

Leland,  John,  college  treasurer, 


63;  mentioned,  22,  115;  speech 
on  incorporation,  50 

Leland,  Rev.  Dr.,  mentioned, 
25 

Library,  first  accommodations, 
28;  removed  to  North  College, 
29;  number  of  volumes  in 
1822,  32;  removed  to  chapel 
building,  71;  erection  of  build- 
ing, 123;  enlarged,  229;  use 
of  books,  230;  gifts  for,  231 

Lothrop,  Hon.  E.  H.,  men- 
tioned, 273 

Lobdell,  Dr.  Henry,  procures 
Assyrian  collection,  147 

Lyman,  Henry,  mentioned,  274, 
286 

Lyman,  Jabez  B.,  instructor,  134 

Lyman,  Col.  Luke,  appointed  in- 
structor in  military  drill,  162 

Lyman,  Rev.  Dr.,  mentioned, 
loo 

Lyon,  Mary,  mentioned,  4,  138 

McCLURE,  Rev.    Alexander  W., 

D.D.,  mentioned,  274,  286 
Mack,  David,  mentioned,  117 
Mallet,  Dr.   John  W.,  instructor 

in  chemistry,  168 
Manross,    Dr.     Newton   S.,    in- 
structor in  science,  168;  death 
in  the  Civil  War,  169,  183 
March,    Francis  A.,   tutor,  134; 

mentioned,  219 
Marking  system  changed,  237 
Marsh,  Rev.  Justin,  quoted,  271 
Mason,  Jeremiah, mentioned,  6;/. 
Massachusetts  Professorship  (the) 

founded,  118 

Mathematics  and  astronomy,  de- 
partment founded,  164 
Mather,  Prof.  Richard  Henry, 
death,  216;  his  life  and  labors, 
220;  mentioned,  72,  191,  227, 
229,  232 

Mather  Art  Collection,  220 
Memorial  bells,  158 
Merriam,  George,  gift,  123 
Merrick,  James  L.,  lecturer,   134 
Merrill,  Willard,  mentioned,  193 


INDEX. 


309 


Middle  College,  73  n. 

Military    drill    introduced,    162, 

183 
Miller,    Rev.   Moses,  mentioned, 

21 

Ministry,  percentage  of  gradu- 
ates in,  290 

Modern  language  course,  stu- 
dents in,  66 

Montague,  Prof.  W.  L.,  men- 
tioned, 72  n. 

Moore,  Rev.  Zephaniah  Swift, 
advocates  removal  of  Williams 
College,  14;  elected  president 
of  the  Charity  Institution,  2; 
accepts  the  presidency,  23;  in- 
augurated, 25;  labors  for  the 
college,  37;  death,  38,  48; 
grief  of  senior  class,  38;  pro- 
fessorship named  after  him, 
1 19;  mentioned,  13,  39,  47 

Morgan,  Henry  T.,  bequest,  231 

Morong,  Thomas,  mentioned, 
277 

Morse,  Prof.  Anson  D.,  men- 
tioned, 215 

Morton,  Marcus,  mentioned,  58 

Mount  Zion,  47  n. 

NASH,    Rev.  John  A.,    lecturer, 

134;   mentioned,  125 
Nelson,  Rev.  Dr.,  mentioned,  104 
Newton,  John  R.,  professorship, 

220 

Nineveh  Gallery,  given,  146 
North    College,    old,    built,    29; 

burnt,     148;    new,   built,     72; 

cost,  75;  renovated,  233 
Norton,  D.  W.,  mentioned,  12  n. 

OBSERVATORY,  Lawrence,  in, 
116,  118 

Olds,  Rev.  Gamaliel  S.,  elected 
professor,  24;  mentioned,  25  n. 

Olmsted,  F.  L.,  plans  college 
grounds,  234 

Osgood,  Rev.  Samuel,  mention- 
ed, 32 

PACKARD,     Rev.      Theophilus, 


D.D.,  mentioned,  3,  13,  21, 
32,  117 

Packard,  Rev.  Theophilus  ('23), 
mentioned,  194,  271;  quoted, 
270 

Paine,  Dr.,  mentioned,  191 

Palmer,  Benjamin  M.,  mentioned, 
90  n. 

Parallel  course,  64-68 

Park,  Rev.  Edwards  A.,  profes- 
sor, 64;  offered  the  presidency, 
105;  mentioned,  124,  193 

Parkes,  Charles  E.,  architect  of 
college  buildings,  149,  150 

Parkhurst,  Rev.  C.  H.,  men- 
tioned, 289 

Parsons,  Dr.  David,  mentioned, 
20,  21,  75 

Patrick,  Henry  J.,  mentioned, 
277 

Peabody,  William  A.,  tutor,  97; 
professor,  135;  death,  135; 
mentioned,  134,  276,  291  n. 

Peck,  Rev.  Solomon,  mentioned, 
62 

Peirce,  Prof.  Benjamin,  men- 
tioned, 165 

Phillips,  Jonathan,  gift  for  the 
library,  124 

Physical  culture  department,  160- 
64 

Physics,  new  laboratory,  233 

Poor,  Daniel  W.,  mentioned,  276 

Porter,  Eleazar,  establishes  first 
scholarship,  144 

Potter,  William  A.,  architect  of 
college  church,  154 

Pratt,  Charles  M.,  gives  the  Pratt 
Gymnasium,  232 

Pratt,  F.  B.,  mentioned,  258 

Prayer  by  friends  in  State  legis- 
lature, 114 

Prayers,  college, held  in  old  meet- 
ing-house, 28;  in  scientific  lec- 
ture-room, 29;  hour  changed, 
80 

President's  house,  first,  corner- 
stone laid,  26;  finished,  28; 
second,  built,  83 

Prizes,  145,  253 


3io 


INDEX. 


Psi  Upsilon  Society,  mentioned, 
28,  84  n.,  302 

QUEEN'S  College,  charter  for,  I 
Question  box,  246 

REDFIELD,  Prof.,  mentioned,  121 

Religion,  first  revival,  36;  Am- 
herst's  orthodoxy  defended,  49; 
religious  support  of  the  college 
wanes,  87;  new  era  in  the  nine- 
teenth century,  267;  revivals, 
270,  272,  274,  275,  276,  277, 
278,  280,  282,  283,  284;  new 
mode  of  life,  285;  increased 
percentage  of  church-members 
at  entrance,  286;  influences 
unfavorable  to  revivals,  285-90 

Resources,  early,  35 

Richards,  Rev.  Austin,  D.D., 
mentioned,  271 

Richardson,  Prof.  Henry  B., 
mentioned,  72  ».,  215 

Rising,  Hon.  C.  B.,  mentioned, 

H5 

Robinson,  Stewart,  mentioned, 
90  n. 

Root,  Prof.  Elihu,  death,  216; 
his  achievements,  218;  men- 
tioned, 215 

SABINE,  Rev.  Dr.,  mentioned, 
191 

Salaries  of  professors,  60  and  n. , 
85; reduced,  102;  dependent  on 
income  of  college,  106,  109;  in 
1846-47,  no 

Sanford,  John  E.,  tutor,  134 

Schneider,  Rev.  Benjamin*,  D.D., 
his  sons  in  the  Civil  War,  188 

Scholarships,  first  established, 
144;  established  at  the  Semi- 
centennial Celebration,  196 

Scientific  apparatus  provided,  29 

department  founded,  124; 

reasons  for  failure,  125 

Seal  of  the  college,  61 

Sears,  Hon.  David,  gift,  101, 
104,  109;  additional  gift,  115; 
condition  of  his  foundation, 


118;  gifts  for  the  library,  124; 
231;  mentioned,  121 

Sears  Foundation  of  Literature 
and  Benevolence,  begun,  104; 
increased,  115,  116;  part  for 
books,  123 

Seelye,  Julius  H.,  D.D.,  peculiar 
features  of  his  accession  to  the 
presidency,  198-203,  247;  ser- 
vice in  Congress,  201,  206, 
248;  character  of  his  adminis- 
tration, 204;  inauguration,  206; 
inaugural  address,  207-9;  m" 
stalled  pastor  of  the  college 
church,  209;  his  religious  in- 
struction, 21 1 ;  mode  of  choos- 
ing professors,  213;  his  teach- 
ing of  philosophy,  215;  attitude 
toward  the  faculty,  216;  mode 
of  governing  the  college,  245; 
gives  up  professorship  of  phil- 
osophy, 246;  use  of  books, 
247;  writings,  247-49;  failing 
health,  250;  resigns,  251;  men- 
tioned, 72,  151  n.,  191;  quoted, 
234,  238,  243,  264 

Seelye,  Mrs.  J.  H.,  death,  250 

Seelye,  Rev.  L.  Clark,  appointed 
professor,  174 

Semi-Centennial  Celebration,  re- 
solutions of  alumni,  190;  com- 
mittees appointed,  191;  exer- 
cises, 192;  addresses  published, 
193;  alumni  present,  194 

Senate,  College,  242;  suspension, 
243  n. 

Senior  levee,  133 

Sheldon,  Luther,  mentioned,  21, 
32 

Shepard,  Charles  U.,  professor, 
106;  offers  his  mineralogical 
cabinet,  116;  mentioned,  121, 
125,  126,  134;  quoted,  34,  35 

Shepard,  Rev.  George,  offered 
the  presidency,  105 

Shepard  minerals,  burned,  226; 
valuation,  227 

Silliman,  Prof.  Benjamin,  men- 
tioned, 121 

Smith,  George  P.,  mentioned,  276 


INDEX. 


Smith,  Prof.  Henry  B.,  men- 
tioned, 134 

Smith,  Rev.  Hiram,  mentioned, 
194 

Smith,  James,  gives  $10,000,  144 

Smith,  Nathaniel,  mentioned. 
3,  16,  21,  55 

Smith,  Prof.  W.  B.,  mentioned, 
216 

Snell,  Prof.  Ebenezer  Strong, 
first  president  of  the  Alexan- 
drian Society,  33;  graduation, 
36;  appointed  tutor,  60; 
granted  $3,000  for  apparatus, 
167;  death,  216;  his  life  work, 
217;  mentioned,  27,  62,  72  n., 
125,  134,  151  ».,  153,  154, 
193,  226,  227;  quoted,  17 

Snell,  Rev.  Thomas,  D.D., 
mentioned,  21,  25  «.,  26,  32; 
quoted,  38 

Societies,  students',  history  and 
influence,  261-65;  statistics, 
302 

Society  of  Inquiry,  character 
changed,  262 

Sodom,  47  n. 

South  College,  erection,  17-19; 
its  rooms,  27;  renovated,  233 

Southworth,  Wells,  mentioned, 
17  ». 

Spear,  Charles  Vinals,  mentioned, 
277 

Spotswood,  Rev.  J.  B.,  D.D., 
mentioned,  273 

Stearns,  Rev.  William  Augustus, 
appointed  president,  128;  his 
inaugural  address,  131,  140; 
life,  139;  his  administration, 
1 7 5~7 75  death,  177;  last  days, 
177-79;  funeral,  179-80;  his 
preparations  for  resigning  the 
presidency,  200;  last  revival, 
283;  quoted,  149,  154,  156, 
161,  282 

Stearns,  William  F.,  gives  the 
College  Church,  156;  men- 
tioned, 155 

Stockbridge,  Hon.  H.  S.,  men- 
tioned, 193 


Storrs,  Rev.  Richard  Salter, 
D.D.,  mentioned,  42,  79,  191, 
193,  210 

Strong,  H.  Wright,  mentioned, 
16,  21,  32 

Strong,  Hon.  Lewis,  mentioned, 
52 

Stuart,  Prof.,  mentioned,  24, 
25  n. 

Students,  free  from  distractions 
in  early  years,  35;  numbers,  26, 
63,  70,  85,  86;  work  on  the 
grounds,  33,  73;  self-govern- 
ment, 74;  celebrate  completion 
of  the  subscription  of  1832, 
80;  relations  with  faculty,  88- 
98;  welcome  home  to  Presi- 
dent Hitchcock,  123;  welcome 
President  Stearns,  141;  lay  cor- 
ner-stone of  Walker  Hall,  153; 
of  College  Church,  156;  offer  a 
company  for  the  Civil  War, 
182 

Subscription  of  1832,  79 

Subscription  of  $100,000  raised, 
100-102 

Sumner,  Hon.  Bradford,  men- 
tioned, 53  n. 

Sweetser,  J.  H.,  gives  prizes,  145 

Sweetser,  Luke,  gives  a  geological 
lecture-room,  146;  mentioned, 
149,  150 

Sykes,  H.  A.,  architect  of  college 
buildings,  146 

TAPPAN,  Dr.  John,  117 

Tappan,  John,  founds  the  Sam- 
uel Green  professorship,  167 

Taylor,  Rev.  James,  mentioned, 
3,  16,  21,  268 

Tobey,  Rev.   A.,  D.D.,  quoted, 

273 

Todd,    Prof.     David     P.,    men- 
tioned, 215,  226 
Tolman,  Albert,  tutor,  134 
Torrey,  David,  tutor,  134 
Towne,  Gen.    Salem,  Jr.,    men- 
tioned, 21,  32 

Trask,  J.  E.,  mentioned,  55 
Treasurer's     office    burned   out, 


312 


INDEX. 


228 ;  removed  to  Walker  Hall, 
229 

Tuckerman,  Edward,  appointed 
professor  of  botany,  169 

Tyler,  Prof.  John  M.,  men- 
tioned, 215 

Tyler,  Rev.  William,  mentioned, 
100 

Tyler,  Rev.  William  S.,  D.D., 
college  service,  ix-xi,  xiv;  ap- 
pointed professor  of  Latin, 
Greek,  and  Hebrew,  64;  starts 
subscription  for  library  build- 
ing-, 123;  subscribes  to  build 
gymnasium,  150;  requested  to 
prepare  a  history  of  Amherst 
College,  190;  acting  president, 
206;  mentioned,  4,  43,  125, 
134,  156,  182,  193,  222 

VACATIONS  changed,  82,100 
Vaill,    Rev.    Joseph,    agent,    75, 
101;    mentioned,  16,   79,   105, 
106,  117,  129,  150.  153 
Vose,  James  G.,  appointed  pro- 
fessor,  173;  became  a  bishop, 
174 

WALKER,  Francis  A.,  quoted, 
256,  259 

Walker,  Dr.  W.  J.,  gifts  and 
bequest,  143;  founder  of  de- 
partment of  mathematics  and 
astronomy,  164 

Walker  Hall,  built,  151-53; 
burned,  225;  rebuilt,  227 

Walker  Instructorship,  165 

Walker  Legacy  Fund,  167,  169 

Warner,  Rev.  Aaron,  appointed 
professor,  106;  resigns,  127; 
mentioned,  125,  134 

Washburn,  Dr.  Charles  Ellery, 
death  in  the  Civil  War,  185 

Washburn,  Rev.  George,  quoted, 
281 

Webster,  Daniel,  mentioned,  6  n. 


Webster,  Noah,  mentioned,  18, 
n.j  20,  21,  25;  quoted,  5,  14, 
18,  25  n. 

Well,  college,  19 

WTheeler,  President,  mentioned, 
121 

Whipple,  Edwards,  mentioned, 
16 

Wilder,  S.  V.  S.,  mentioned,  56 

Williams,  Israel,  mentioned,  I 

Williams  College,  union  with  the 
Charity  Institution  provided 
for,  7;  removal  considered,  13- 
15;  remonstrates  against  incor- 
poration of  Amherst,  52;  men- 
tioned, i,  2,  3,  26,  30,  48,  49 

Williston,  A.  L.,  mentioned,  227, 
229,  232 

Williston,  Hon.  Samuel,  founds 
Williston  professorship,  109; 
founds  a  second  professorship 
and  half  a  third,  113,  116;  gift 
for  library  building,  123;  gives 
$10,000,  144;  gives  Williston 
Hall,  149;  gift  for  improving 
grounds,  159;  presides  at  the 
Semi-Centennial  Celebration, 
192;  donation  in  1871,  197; 
mentioned,  117,  121,  146,  150, 

151,  155 
Wines  and  liquors  prohibited  to 

students,   23 
Winn,    Washington     H.,     men- 

tioned, 273 
Woodbridge,  Rev.  Dr.,  quoted, 

273 
Woods,  Hon.   Josiah  B.,   raises 

money  for  buildings,  in;  men- 

tioned, 115,  121,  150 
Woods  Cabinet,  in,  118 
Worcester,  Samuel  M.,  tutor,  43; 

librarian,  43;  professor,  62 

YALE  College,  mentioned,  24,  63, 

266 
Young  Men's  Christian  Associa- 

tion, mentioned,  288 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 


•J^HE  HANDBOOK  OF  AMHERST,  MASSA- 
CHUSETTS, prepared  and  published  by  FREDERICK  II. 
HITCHCOCK.  Revised  Edition,  1894.  200  pp.,  70  Illustra- 
tions. $1.10. 

CONTENTS. 

AMHERST  OF   THE    PAST. 

The  Hartford  Revolt— Settlement  of  Hadley— A  Glimpse  at 
Early  Amherst — A  Town  at  Last — Wars  and  Rumors  of  Wars. 

THE   CONNECTICUT  VALLEY.     By  Mabel  Loomis  Todd. 
The   Beauty   of   an   August  Day — Characteristic  Flowers  and 
Birds — Literature  of  the  Valley — Its  Geology — A  Few  Historical 
Glimpses. 

A   FEW  DELIGHTFUL   DRIVES. 

View  from  Holyoke — Charming  Hadley — The  "  Meadow  City" 
— Blood-Stained  Deerfield — Other  Attractive  Places. 

AMHERST    OF    THE    PRESENT. 

Its  Situation — Material  Conditions — Glimpses  Along  the  Streets 
of  the  Village — North  Amherst — The  "City" — East  Street — 
South  Amherst. 

AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

A  Glance  at  Its  History— The  College  of  the  Present— The 
Summer  School  of  Languages — A  Tour  of  the  College  Buildings 
— The  Greek-Letter  Fraternities — Their  Houses. 

THE  AGRICULTURAL   COLLEGE. 

Historical  Notes — Present  Conditions — The  Experiment  Stations 
— A  Glance  at  the  Buildings. 


The  features  of  that  delightful  locality  have  been  well  set  forth  with  pen  and 
picture.  The  work  has  no  list  of  "  prominent  men  "  or  other  similar  features  that 
characterize  handbooks  published  for  advertising  purposes.  There  are  75  beauti- 
ful illustrations  in  process  work.  —  Springfield  Republican. 

The  vicinity  of  Amherst  is  of  interest  to  every  New  Englander,  as  many 
events  of  historical  interest  are  connected  with  that  part  of  Massachusetts,  and 
for  this  reason  the  handsomely  bound  and  printed  volume  just  issued  will  be 
welcome.  —  Newton  Graphic. 

A  handsomely  illustrated  book  descriptive  of  the  quaint  college  town  of 
Amherst.  It  goes  beyond  the  mere  guide-book  not  only  in  the  excellence  of  the 
illustrations  but  in  the  trustworthy  historical  sketch  which  constitutes  its  first 
chapter.  —  Public  Opinion. 

Sent  post-paid  on  receipt  of  price  by  the  publisher  ^ 

FREDERICK    H.    HITCHCOCK, 

55  WEST  45TH  STREET,  NEW  YORK. 


OF  THE 

[UNIVERSITY. 


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